


Those Left Behind

by fireflysglow_archivist



Category: Firefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-07-02
Updated: 2004-07-02
Packaged: 2019-04-29 07:51:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 31,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14468229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fireflysglow_archivist/pseuds/fireflysglow_archivist
Summary: River's experiences at the Academy come back to haunt the crew of Serenity.





	Those Left Behind

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Firefly’s Glow](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Firefly%27s_Glow), and was moved to the AO3 as part of the Open Doors project in 2018. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are the creator and would like to claim this work, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Firefly's Glow collection profile](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/fireflysglow/profile).

Those Left Behind

## Those Left Behind

Disclaimer: Firefly characters and the universe all belong to Joss and Mutant Enemy. Others that you don't come from the Fox season belong to me. If ya'd like to borrow for a bit, just ask. 

Author notes: This is the third story in what has become the arc following Advice in Space. The second was Screams in the night. You probably don't need to read those to understand this one, but would probably help and they are both short vignettes. Set after Objects In Space, but will probably be rendered completely AU by the BDM in a year or so. This story just keeps pestering me even though I've been telling Mal that I'm too busy with RL to play, but he can't seem to keep River under control. 

Many thanks to Neroli, my beta, for reigning in my sentence length and typos. And to Cassandrae for pestering me to put in a bit of humor along the way. 

Those Left Behind  
Chapter 1: Possibilities 

Chinese glossary  
Yuchun - stupid/idiot  
Diyu - hell  
We de ma - mother of god 

Kaylee yawned as she entered the engine room. Wash had woken her with a notification that it was okay to shut the engines down. The mechanic had been harassing the Captain to cruise without the engines so she could do some much needed maintenance work. After Kaylee threatened to keep them on planet for an entire week, Mal had finally relented and decided that the money he would save in down time and fuel would equal any bonus the ship would get for delivering their goods early. As a result, Kaylee was now awake well before the ship's normal morning in order to get a head start on the maintenance before the first meal. 

Kaylee jumped and let out a squeak when she saw someone in the dark corner beside the now quiet engine. Once her heart left her stomach, she could clearly see River's pale skin under the girl's long hair. "River, you scared me. What are you doing awake so early?" 

"Sometimes the engine is louder," River told her. 

Kaylee raised an eyebrow. The other girl made the statement as if her meaning was clear, but sussing out what River really wanted to communicate was difficult when the mechanic wasn't groggy. Kaylee leaned against the wall in front of River. "Honey, what is the engine louder than? Is Shepherd snoring again?" 

River shook her head and then glared at her as if Kaylee was being dense on purpose. "No dummy. No one snores, none of them sleep. The screams keep them awake too." Kaylee started to get worried when River began rocking. Maybe Simon had forgotten to give his sister her medicine the night before. "The pills and shots don't stop it either yuchun!" River informed her nastily. 

"Well, someone definitely didn't get enough sleep missy. Whatever is making the noise, I'm sure Simon or the Cap'n can help make it quiet," Kaylee shot back. She was too tired to be understanding this morning and had too much work to do, Kaylee thought as she tried not to feel guilty. 

"No, no they can't," River told her. The young genius looked heartbroken at this admission. "It won't ever stop, not till their story ends." Kaylee sighed. It looked like the Captain would just have to accept that the repairs would get started a little later. 

Suddenly, River's face brightened and she smiled at Kaylee as if she were totally at peace for once. "No, I was wrong. I don't have to wait for the story to end." After that statement, River quickly crawled to the cabinet containing Kaylee's metal saws and soldering irons. Kaylee froze in shock for a moment as she realized the other girl's intentions. 

The sight of River picking up the diamond saw jolted her into action. Picking up a nearby wrench, Kaylee quickly crossed the room to where River sat fascinated with the solution to her problem. Mentally apologizing to her friend, Kaylee hit her solidly in the head with the wrench. Sobbing, she hit the engine room's comm button. "Captain, Simon, I need you in the engine room now," Kaylee begged. 

* * *

Simon quickly determined that his sister had suffered no more than a mild concussion. In fact, he had been forced to sedate her just to determine that. The young teen had regained consciousness just as the Captain reached the engine room and she had been furious with Kaylee. Shaking his head, he turned to the other three who awaited his diagnosis. "She'll be fine; she just has a slight concussion. I'll need to look at her medicines, one of them must be affecting her emotional state," he informed them. 

Zoe raised her eyebrows at his statement and otherwise made no change to her normal inscrutable expression. Mal shook his head as he patted Kaylee comfortingly on the shoulder. "See I told ya - you didn't hurt her none." Turning to the doctor, he considered how best to make the boy consider other reasons for his sister's behavior. "Doc, I don't think this episode was caused by your meds," he stated. 

Simon crossed his arms as he replied. "And this conclusion is based on your infinite pharmaceutical knowledge from where?" 

"No need to get smart son," Mal said with an edge to his voice. "Kaylee told us what River said before, well before it all happened. I think that given your sis's abilities and history that there might be more than one explanation for her behavior." 

Simon shook his head as he started to angrily put away his instruments. "Oh that's right, she's a reader," he almost shouted. "I suppose she's hearing the lambs being slaughtered on Whitefall," he continued sarcastically. 

"That's one possibility," Zoe interjected. 

"Oh and there are others? Tell me Zoe, what is your educated conclusion as to why my sister tried to kill her self? And Captain, does your opinion agree with it?" Simon demanded. 

Gorramit, they should have given Simon the smoother, Mal thought. Who'd have thought that the psychotic sibling would be the more rational one of the pair? "Look, all I'm saying is that I see two possibilities. Hopefully the girl is just having flashbacks. But as her doctor and brother, I think that you should consider all the possible causes before drugging her out of her skull!" 

Mal's conviction deflated Simon a bit. "And the other possibility?" 

Mal sighed. Diyu, he'd hoped to be able to talk to River before even suggesting the idea to her brother. Hopefully she'd be able to tell him and Zoe that their fears were completely wrong. Hopefully, but given their gorram luck, completely unlikely. "The other possibility being that she is hearing all the others still there," he answered gently. 

Simon looked from Mal to Zoe quizzically. "Others?" 

This time Kaylee answered his question with a horrified expression as she realized what the Captain was implying. "The other kids still at that place, that academy." 

Simon stumbled at her words. Surely not, River would have told him if something like that were happening. "No, it's the meds and the trauma!" 

"Son, we're just saying it's a possibility. Now, we've all had enough excitement for one day and we still gotta a full day of work ahead," Mal stated. "I think someone should stay with River at all times for a bit. Zoe, be sure that the crew understands that there are to be no weapons of any kind near her. Now, I'm gonna leave the two of you to get our girl settled while I help Lil' Kaylee get caught up on her repairs." 

Simon stared dumbfounded at the Captain's back as the man escorted Kaylee out of the infirmary. Zoe moved into his line of vision after he remained frozen for several minutes. "She'll be fine Simon, we'll get her through this," she reassured the younger man. 

Simon shook his head as he turned his attention back to his baby sister. His beautiful, gifted little sister. It wasn't fair! He had saved her and in return only gotten pieces of the child he had loved and cherished back. And now that rutting place threatened to take what little he had away as well. "How Zoe? How will we get her through this? Whatever the diyu this is!" 

Zoe walked to the other side of the treatment chair and embraced Simon's hand which rested on the top of the teen's head. "By being there for her even when she doesn't want us to. The Captain and I have a bit of experience at helping people to cope; might be that we can give her a bit of perspective on not letting the memories destroy all that's left," she explained. "Besides, in case you haven't noticed, this crew has started to think of her as their little sister too. And we don't leave anyone behind," she continued with a rye smile. "Now, how bout we get her comfortable in her room before she wakes up?" 

* * *

In the engine room, Mal shut the door to the rest of the ship. Kaylee turned around at the sound and her eyes got wide. "I'm sorry Cap'n, I should have told her to leave immediately," she started to explain. 

Mal gave the mechanic a confused look. "Calm down Kaylee, I ain't mad. In fact, you did real good." Kaylee smiled at his praise. "However, I need you to tell me if we can do a few things. Is it possible to put a code on the doors leading to here, the bridge, and the cargo bay doors?" 

"Well, the bay doors are easy enough since the computer controls them, but here and the bridge are just manual. I might be able to jury-rig a lock mechanism of some sort though." 

"One that can keep little River out?" 

"Well, I can't promise that, but it would slow her down, that's for sure. Why?" 

Mal sighed. Leave it to Kaylee to ask the question he didn't really want to answer. "Ship in space is a dangerous place for someone who really wants to end it all," he explained. When the mechanic's eyes got big and started leaking tears, he pulled the young girl into a rough hug. "Now, now, Zoe and me won't let things get there. I just want to be prepared is all. River's gonna be just fine." 

Kaylee pulled back from him after she wiped off her face. "But what about those others? We are gonna save them too, aren't we Cap'n?" 

Wu de ma, sometimes he really wished he had a crew with a little thicker skin. As soon as the Preacher and 'Nara heard about the morning's events, he was sure he'd have most of the entire crew threatening to mutiny if he didn't head for the Core at once. 

"Kaylee, what you're asking isn't no simple thing. If it was in my power to do it, we'd be headed there right now. And even if we could manage it without being bound by the feds, what would we do with all those kids? Kids who might be worse off than River is?" Gorramit, he hadn't wanted to knock the hope out of the girl, but she had to understand that he couldn't save everyone in the 'verse. Hell, keeping Serenity flying was hard enough sometimes. 

"I understand Captain. But if you was to find a way, and I know you will, you'd do it right?" 

"Kaylee, you know that if I find a way to take anything the feds got, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Now, enough of this woolgathering, what do you need me to do to get our girl flying again?" he asked her. He sighed as she turned her attention to the silent engine and began explaining things in Captain-dummy talk. He really hoped that his promise didn't come back to bite him in his ass. 

Chapter 2: Consequences  
Chinese Glossary  
Tianna - Oh god  
Jien tah du guai - like hell  
nien ching duh - little girl 

Mal walked into the passenger's dorm carrying a tray of food for River. Zoe had informed him that Simon had refused to leave his sister's side all day and he figured the girl could use a break by now. Conveniently, his mission also allowed him to avoid the crew's discussion of the day's events. 

He knocked lightly on the door to River's room before entering. "Preacher cooked a good dinner. You'd best go and get some before Jayne eats it all," Mal told the boy. 

Simon looked up at him groggily from his position on the floor beside the bed. "I should stay here in case River needs something." 

Mal rolled his eyes. River was right, her brother was a boob. "You won't be able to help anyone by not eating or sleeping. Besides, River looks like she's taking a nap her ownself. I'm sure I can manage to keep an eye on her till you get back." 

Simon looked back at his sister. After verifying that she was sleeping, he nodded grudgingly. "You're right, of course. I won't be long." 

Mal waved at him dismissively. "Take as long as you need. Preacher already volunteered for the night shift." Simon nodded and finally left the room slowly. 

Mal set the tray down on the nightstand and then slid the paper door shut. "All right girl, you can stop playing possum. He's gone now." River obeyed his command which worried him almost as much as her earlier behavior. After taking a seat in the room's only chair, he addressed her again. "Do you want to talk first or eat?" River just continued to stare at the nightstand without answering. 

"Fine then, talk it is. If you'd like, you can pick the subject," Mal prompted. He continued to speak after receiving no response, "Kaylee told me what happened. I have to say, I wish you had come to me or Zoe. We would have told you that you weren't alone. You're not the only person in the 'verse who has survived a hellish situation while others didn't." 

Mal saw her lips move and had to lean forward in order to hear what she said. "Not alone, I know that. They see it all, want me to choke on my cake and drink my blood." Tianna, that was not the type of answer he'd been hoping to hear from the girl. Mal shook his head; he was going as space crazy as she was. Everything she had said since the day had started made perfect sense to him. 

"River, look at me gorramit. Whoever wants that, it won't never happen all right. And if you go try and cooperate with 'em on it anymore, you'll find out I'm not such a nice and cuddly Captain after all. Dong ma?" 

"You can't keep me from growing up, Daddy. And you can't stop them from hating me and not letting me play reindeer games, either. Rudolf's always alone until the story's over." 

"Jien tah du guai! Look River, right now I can't do anything about those still left behind. But your story's not going to end for a good long time nien ching duh, you understand? So you tell those kids that they should leave you in peace or they might not like how I choose to end their stories." 

River sat up and looked at the Captain quizzically. He really thought that the others should leave her alone. She didn't understand it. When she left, the programs had been accelerated out of fear of public exposure. It was her fault that they were in more pain. She should suffer too. "I won the race, I have to carry the prize. Downhill the sled will go faster than I." 

"I don't know that I caught all that. But if you're telling me that you deserve whatever those kids are putting you through, then you're wrong. You have a brother who loves you more than his own life and refused to give up. God knows it's a trait that has caused me no end of grief, but it's the reason you're here now. So those kids want to pick on someone, tell 'em to go and give him the bad dreams." 

River smiled a little at the thought of her brother wandering through Serenity hearing the others complaints, dreams, and struggles to retain their sanity. He'd be batty in less than an hour. "They hurt Mal. This hurts them." 

Mal finally crossed the room to join the young woman on her cot. "I know mei mei. I know." Hopefully someday they wouldn't; but until then, he'd do what he could to keep this one safe. 

Chapter 3: Concealed Mutiny 

<Two Days Later>  
"So Mal hasn't started planning a rescue yet?" Inara asked Zoe as they stood on the catwalk outside her shuttle. 

Zoe closed her eyes and mentally asked her Captain to forgive her. Normally she'd let the man take his own time, but they couldn't be sure they had any left to spare in this instance. "So far as I know, no. He's still stuck on what to do with all of them if we managed the impossible." 

"So if we can answer that, then he won't have any reason to refuse," Inara suggested. 

"Less a one anyway. We'd still have a lot of planning to do and would need to find more manpower as well." Zoe sighed. She knew that Mal was hesitant to even broach the topic with any of their old friends. One bad apple and Serenity would be running for the Rim in order to keep River safe. Or even worse, more dead and wounded on the Captain's conscience. This entire fiasco was quickly developing into a nice little nightmare. She wondered if Simon even comprehended how much his sister's predicament weighed on the Captain. Mal had certainly taken more than his share of shifts watching the girl these past few days. "Even if everything magically falls into place in the next week, it would probably be 6 months or a year before we could dare to pull off the job." 

Inara pursed her lips as she considered the first mate's words. "Well then, we'd better get everything squared away immediately, right?" 

Zoe smiled. Leave it to the Companion to take charge immediately. The Captain would definitely throw a fit when this came out in the open. "You have some ideas, I take it." 

Inara nodded and began to explain what she and the Preacher had begun to set in motion. 

* * *

"Zoe, Simon will never tell me that!" Wash protested. 

"Which is why Jayne has so selflessly volunteered to help you question him," Zoe countered. Jayne smiled at the smaller man over her shoulder. 

Wash turned back to the piloting console as he desperately tried to think a way out of this mess. Mal would skin him alive if he found out Wash was involved in this plan even if Zoe was the leader of it. He knew the Captain blamed him any time his second-in-command disagreed with him. "Why don't we just have Kaylee wheedle it out of him? I'm sure she'd even enjoy the process." 

Zoe shook her head. "No, Simon would never tell her. He wouldn't want to worry about putting her in danger." 

"Besides, Cap'n would really be pissed if he found out that we made Kaylee listen to that tale of woe," Jayne interrupted. Zoe gave the man an odd look; sometimes he managed to convince her that he actually had a functioning brain. 

Wash groaned and dropped his head against the locked control stick. Mal was going to seriously maim him when this was all over. "Fine, I'll do it. Just remember to put into your log that I'm an unwilling member of this mutiny, but I crumbled in the face of peer pressure." 

Zoe smiled and gave her husband a kiss on the back of his head. "Will do husband." 

* * *

Jayne, Simon, and Wash sat in an isolated booth in the relatively deserted bar. Kaylee had managed to finish her repairs early thanks to extra help from Mal and Wash. As a result, they still received an early delivery bonus and Mal had been pleased enough to allow the crew a short time of liberty on the sparsely populated moon before taking off to find another job. Zoe and Inara had made it clear to their conspirators that this was the perfect time to implement their plan. Thus, Simon had been forcibly removed from the ship while Inara and Zoe assured him that his sister would be happier after a little girl time. 

Wash shook his head as the waiter delivered three large pitchers of the saloon's stoutest beer. Thank the goddess that Simon was completely oblivious; otherwise, the doctor would realize something underhanded was about to take place. 

Two empty pitchers of beer later, Wash was still nursing his second glass and Jayne was also surprisingly sober. Simon on the other hand was completely smashed. Time to see if alcohol could accomplish what a year of living on the same ship couldn't. He nodded at Jayne; Simon would be less suspicious if the questions came from someone he underestimated. 

"So, doc, how 'bout you tell us some of your war stories from the past," Jayne suggested. 

Simon cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. "Huh? Okay, well in the ER things could get pretty hairy," he began. 

Jayne shook his head and slapped a hand on the doctor's back. "No doc, not your hospital stories. I'm talking about how you got your sister free. That's gotta be an interesting story." 

Wash could see the doctor struggle to understand what the mercenary was getting at. He kept his mouth shut in case the doctor was more coherent than he appeared. "Well, I told it when I joined the ship," Simon offered. 

Jayne smirked. This was going to be almost too easy. "Nah ya didn't doc. You told us how you came to possess that fancy crate and told us that a lot of money got her out. I wanna hear how a fancy-dancy doc managed to meet up with people like that. Must have been a pretty exciting time." 

Uh-oh, Wash thought, Jayne was overdoing it. The doctor looked like he understood what the big man had said enough to take offense. "I think you both need another drink," the pilot interrupted as he poured more beer into all of their glasses. "We're not making fun of you doc, we're just curious. I'm sure going into black-out zones while you didn't really know what was going on with your sister was pretty exciting." 

Simon turned his head toward the pilot on his other side. "Terrifying is more like it," he slurred. "The first time I went, I was so glad when the feds picked me up. I thought I was going to die before I got out of there." 

Wash kicked Jayne under the table when he saw the other man open his mouth. They had him talking now; anything the mercenary said after this point only risked screwing the entire plan up. Wash whistled before replying. "I can understand that. I've never been in one myself, but the tales I've heard...Well, let's just say if I ever do enter one, I plan to do it with Zoe right beside me. And she'll be carrying a very, very large gun!" 

Simon smiled drunkenly at the pilot. "Yeah, that would have been nice. After that first time though, I got the hang of it more or less. And every time, I'd be a little bit closer to getting River out of that place." 

"How'd those people contact you in the first place," Wash asked. 

"An anonymous cortex message gave me a time and a place attached to the photo that River had used in her school application." Simon stared off into space for a few minutes before continuing. "That first time, they only told me that my suspicions were right and that they might be able to help me. I nearly went out of my head waiting for them to contact me again." 

Wash rolled his eyes as he saw Jayne pick up the pace of his drinking. Apparently the story wasn't interesting enough to keep his attention. "Did they ever tell you how they managed it?" 

Simon shrugged. "They said they had someone inside the school. Beyond that, I don't have a clue." 

Wash pulled Simon's glass away from the inebriated man when he started to giggle at his own statement. They had almost everything they needed. After one last question, Zoe should be able to get more specifics from the doctor just by pointing out that he'd already spilled most of the story. "Do you think that you could contact them again?" Simon looked alarmed at his question, so he hurried to reassure the doctor. "I imagine that if they were ever to smuggle another kid out, the meds and other info about your sister might be helpful," he explained. 

Simon nodded. The pilot made a good point. "There are still a couple of bank accounts that I never got around to depositing payments in. Beyond that, I doubt any of the addresses would still work. They didn't seem to think I would manage to stay free for long." 

Wash nodded as he felt his communicator vibrate. Zoe must be having trouble covering for them. The Captain was bound to be suspicious if he found out that Jayne had taken the doctor out drinking. 

* * *

Chapter 4: Realizations 

<Several weeks later>

"What do you mean he's no longer useful?" the suited man demanded. 

The technician gulped as he tried to swallow down his fear. "I can't explain it sir. He's stopped responding to any stimuli. We've run multiple tests, but there doesn't appear to be a physiological reason for his catatonia." 

The suited man turned to his partner. "What do you think? Should this project be terminated?" 

His double paused before answering as he rubbed his chin with his blue-gloved hand. "No, not yet. There's valuable data to be gained from the vivisection." 

* * *

Simon jerked awake to the sound of his sister screaming. He quickly changed his position so that he was kneeling beside her bed. "River! River, calm down! Your safe, it's okay, mei mei!" His shouts had no effect; in fact her screams seemed to be getting louder. When he reached out to reassure her, River began to struggle and fight against him without pausing for a breath. 

"Doctor! Is she okay?" Book asked loudly from the doorway. 

"I don't know. I can't calm her down. I need a sedative." 

"The Captain is bringing one." Simon nodded absently as he managed to get underneath his sister and pin her into position on top of him. By holding her immobile in a sitting position, he could at least assure himself that she wouldn't accidentally injure either one of them. 

Book stepped further into the room when heard footsteps in the corridor. River was totally incoherent; her eyes were wide open, but apparently blind to the familiar surroundings. Her screams brought back memories of the sounds of wounded men who knew the end was near, but that much more pain awaited them before their final release. As Mal entered the room, the Shepherd bowed his head in prayer for whatever suffering the young girl was undergoing. 

"Will her normal dosage be enough?" Mal asked Simon as he loaded the syringe gun. 

Simon winced as River began to thrash her head. "I'm not sure, but it is safest to start with it." Mal nodded and approached the bed. Simon could tell that he was unsure as to where to attempt to inject her. "Her arm will be fine," he instructed the Captain. 

River renewed her struggles against the restraints when she felt the metal bite into her arm. The pain from the previous cuts seared her nerves and her brain ached where her skull had been removed. This cut was different though, after the initial pain she felt a relaxation. Was the story ending? Slowly she realized that the room was dark instead of bright and that there was a high pitched noise coming from somewhere. When she heard her brother's voice softly speaking calming words into her ear, she realized the noise was her. Her screams suddenly changed into body racking sobs as the smoother forced her tense and intact muscles to relax. "Simon?!" she begged. 

"I'm here mei mei. I'm here. You're safe, it's okay. It was just a dream," he reassured her. 

"No, not a dream! It just wasn't me," she struggled to say through her tears. Simon continued to hold her tight as he looked up at the Captain with questioning eyes. Mal just looked back with an expression of sadness and barely controlled fury. 

* * *

A short time later, Mal found himself standing outside of Inara's shuttle. River had woken everyone on the ship and he found himself in no mood to deal with Kaylee's pleading eyes or Zoe's questioning stares. However, he was uncertain that he would find any comfort within the shuttle either. His choice was taken away when the door suddenly opened. 

"Mal," Inara stated in surprise as she stepped back slightly. 

Mal took her movement as an invitation and slid past her into the interior. Sighing, he sank onto his customary couch and leaned his head back. 

"Is she okay?" 

Mal snorted. "Has she ever been okay since we've known her?" he asked seriously. Poor kid, he thought, after surviving what she had while her parents refused to accept that anything was wrong, the last thing she deserved was to still feel the tortures of that place. 

Inara sat down beside him. "Are you okay?" 

Mal sat up and rested his head in his hands as he considered her question. "No, but I suppose I'm better than she is." Inara waited, sensing that there was more he wished to say. "At least now, Simon is beginning to understand what's going on." 

"Is that what you've been waiting for?" 

Mal stood and began to pace. This situation wearied his heart and soul, but it also awoke his hatred which kept him from being able to enjoy the peace offered by his ship. He was beginning to feel that maybe that peace had only been an illusion anyway. "If we hope to do anything, we'll need his help with the planning. I doubted he'd be eager to help while he was still skeptical that River was still connected to those still left in that place." 

"I think you greatly underestimate Simon's character Mal." 

"And you tend to think the best of folk. Fact is, the boy would be pretty unwilling to help in anything that exposed his sis to the feds unless she has something to gain. I bet that as soon as she's sleeping, he'll be demanding I go and lay siege to that rutting place." 

"It is what you've been waiting for, so why do you look like you are facing the firing squad instead?" 

"Because it isn't a game or a storybook, Inara. What we'll be going up against and trying to do, we'll be fighting a war. And I'm not too eager considering the fact that the odds are about the same as the last battle I fought. Only this time, the people I risk losing are . . . They're not trained for it. We don't stand a gorram chance in hell of accomplishing anything." 

Inara stood and forced him to stop pacing. "Are you telling me that you don't know any former soldiers who might be eager for a re-enactment?" 

Mal shook his head and stepped back a pace. "We'll still be outnumbered, outgunned, and if we're right about what River is, then they might just be expecting us." 

"If that were true, then the men who got River out would never have succeeded," Inara pointed out. 

"Fine! Say we do succeed, what then 'Nara? How do you propose to hide twenty or thirty insane kids from the next Alliance patrol that stops us for inspection?" 

Inara allowed herself a momentary smile. Finally, she would be able to remove his last excuse. "Book and I have already made some inquiries. We've found suitable places that would easily be able to conceal up to fifty injured children," she explained. 

"How? You two can't afford to be linked to this no how." 

"Mal, please. We care about River as well and know a good number of people who would sympathize with others in her condition." 

Mal considered her words. "Exactly how long have you and Book been planning this little operation?" 

"How long have you been considering what would be required to assault the Academy?" she countered. 

* * *

Chapter 5: Allies and Confrontations  
Diyu - hell  
Go-se - dog crap 

After his talk with Inara, Mal had decided that their plans should move slowly until Simon was fully on board. The information that Jayne and Wash had obtained from the doctor gave the crew a starting place to find Simon's previous contacts. Hopefully, they would learn that there was only one facility. Otherwise they would have to hope that River only felt the pain of victims who were held in the same place she had been a captive. Mal dreaded the possibility that this adventure could be the starting point for another war because he doubted he could recruit enough manpower at this juncture. 

Mal turned the pilot's chair when he heard footsteps on the stairs behind him. Simon paused in the doorway to the bridge and leaned heavily on the wall. The boy looked like he had stayed awake for the past week. "Have a seat before you fall down Doc," Mal told him. 

Simon blinked wearily as if he had dozed off in the short span of time that he had stopped moving. Slowly he straightened and staggered to the rarely used co-pilot's seat. Mal fought a grin as he realized that their positions mimicked the ones they had taken during their first heart to heart session following the events on Whitefall. "Something on your mind son?" Mal asked as much to get the doctor to talk as to wake him up. 

Simon blinked several times to bring his surroundings back in focus. He'd spent the morning and most of the day either reassuring River or desperately trying to find something to block these new nightmares or visions that plagued her so. Now the rest of the ship was once again asleep and Simon found himself unable to join them even though his body was trying. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw his sister in frantic terror or began to imagine the types of things that might have been done to her at the Academy. Neither scenario induced a restful state of mind. As a result, he found himself on the bridge with the Captain looking for whatever the other man found in the star field that stretched before them. "I don't know how to make her better," Simon finally confessed to Mal. 

Mal leaned back in his chair. "Well, that's a start." 

"A start? How can you say that when she's in this type of pain?" Simon demanded angrily. 

"Back up there son, I didn't say I didn't want the girl to get better. I'm just saying that it's good you're starting to see you might not be able to do it the way you want to." 

"What other way is there Captain?" Simon asked. "What am I supposed to do now? Go and save all the other children too?" he finished skeptically. 

Mal smiled in an unpleasant way. "That's exactly what we're gonna do Simon. Hopefully it will help, and if not, River might feel better in that at least she'll get a chance to give those Blue guys a taste of the pain she's felt." 

Simon blinked hard. Surely he had dozed off and was dreaming this conversation? Even Mal wasn't crazy enough to think he could expect to assault a secure facility in the middle of the Core and remain alive, never mind free. "You can't be serious." 

Mal gave a little chuckle as he turned back to his constant companion, the black. "I am son. So are Zoe and Inara, and I've gotta tell you, I've given up fighting the women-folk on this. If you think you'll have better luck, feel free to try. Now, why don't you go get some sleep? In the morning I'll fill you in on what we have in the works so far." 

Simon dropped his head against the back of his chair as his eyes closed. Nothing made sense anymore. That morning his life his universe had been shattered for the second time in his life and now Simon found that he didn't recognize any of the pieces of the place he now found himself in. Maybe Mal was right and it would make sense after some sleep he thought as his mind slowly shut down in the slumber of the exhausted. 

* * *

The next morning, Simon awoke to a seemingly empty ship. After several weeks of little to no sleep, the doctor was making an uncharacteristically late start on the day and the result was a very empty kitchen. Blearily, he started preparations for a meal when a plate full of potatoes and an egg-like substance made of diced protein was thrust into his field of vision. 

"Saved these for ya. Not as good re-warmed, but didn't want to waste the last of the potatoes," Kaylee offered. "Go and sit. I'll get you some milk." 

"Thanks," Simon said as he made his way to the table. 

"I was going to come wake you soon sleepyhead. Cap'n announced this morning that we'll be having a meeting at lunch," Kaylee told him as she began to mix the powdered milk with water. 

Simon almost choked on his mouthful of food. Apparently the previous night's discussion hadn't been a delusion induced by sleep deprivation. "A meeting? About what?" 

Kaylee rolled her eyes. "A job silly. What else would we have a meeting about?" 

Simon pushed his plate away from him. Suddenly, he wasn't very hungry. "I just remembered something I need to discuss with the Captain. Do you know where he is?" 

"He and Zoe are checking out shuttle two I think. Do you want me to save your food?" Kaylee asked only to look up and see she was talking to an empty room. 

\-- 

Simon found Zoe and Mal having a heated discussion in the empty shuttle. They both stopped talking when they noticed him in the door. "Mal, I need to talk to you," Simon stated. 

"Well talk then. Got work to be done," Mal replied. Zoe just crossed her arms and glared at her boss. If Mal thought she was done with their discussion, he was wrong. 

"Umm, it's about what we talked about last night," Simon started hesitantly. 

Mal rolled his eyes as he began to check the ship's supplies. "Zoe set all this into motion Simon, you can speak your piece in front of her." 

Simon nodded. "Well, I'm not sure that everyone on board should be included in the details of your plan." 

Mal turned his attention to the doctor as Zoe replied. "What are you getting at Simon? I don't see how knowing about it is going to upset River any more than she already is?" 

"Jayne?" Mal asked as he ignored what Zoe had said. 

Simon nodded. "You knew?" he asked. 

Mal groaned as he saw the questioning look on Zoe's face. He knew he'd forgotten to tell her something. Now she was going to be in a tizzy for days. "Jayne and I already had our reckoning over that Simon. I was planning on revisiting our discussion with him though." 

"I'm definitely going with you now," Zoe declared in a tone that brooked no argument. 

Mal shook his head. "You're forgetting whose ship this is again. Inara and Jayne will go with me while you do the job I have lined up. Jayne's not expecting anything so I won't have a problem. Now, if everyone is finished discussing my plan, there's work to be done." 

"Fine," Zoe growled as she shouldered past Simon. 

"Don't ask," Mal said in response to Simon's questioning eyebrow. 

"So lunch is about the job or your plan?" 

"The job. Plan still needs some refining and info before the whole boat learns of it," Mal answered. 

* * *

Mal sighed with weariness as he looked at the people with whom he was sharing a shuttle. Inara was busy piloting while Jayne dozed against the gray metal wall a few feet behind where Mal sat in the co-pilot's seat. Zoe was still upset that she was not accompanying him on this trip to meet with Monty. Simon's ill-timed revelation about Jayne's role in the incident on Ariel had only made her more determined to join the mission. In the end, she had capitulated only after several hours of argument. 

"I still think that bringing Jayne was a bad idea," Inara stated quietly a short time after their destination appeared through the windows. 

Mal leaned forward for a clearer look at the moon before answering. "Yeah, well you're not the Captain. Besides, he and Zoe didn't think much of you coming along either." Inara refused to answer his barb. "Look, he'll be able to look after you while I talk to Monty. And you can observe Monty from a safe distance without worrying about being kidnapped by pirates or slavers." 

"I'm a big girl Mal, I can take care of myself," she replied indignantly. 

Mal nodded with only a hint of a smile on his face. "I know that. But I need you drawing attention to yourself and I'd worry if I didn't know someone was with you." 

"So how long am I supposed to leave the two of you alone together?" Inara asked as she began her approach into the moon's spaceport. 

"Twenty minutes should be enough unless you see me give you a signal." 

Jayne woke up when he felt the ship touch down. "Did I miss anything exciting?" 

* * *

The three crewmembers walked into a saloon that catered to individuals in the middle of the social strata. Mal quickly spotted his former comrade in arms and motioned for the other two to follow him. 

Monty took in the sight of Mal, Inara, and Jayne with a wide grin. "Mal, don't tell me you went and got hitched again?" he asked with a laugh. 

Mal smiled widely as he sat down with the large man. "Not hardly Monty. This here's Inara - she's a Companion who rents one of my shuttles. The other fellow is a member of my crew." 

Monty nodded a greeting to both Jayne and Inara. "Well Miss Inara, if you are here to tell me that you can't stand Malcolm Reynolds' uncouth ways for one second longer, I'd gladly find a space on my ship for you to rent." 

Inara smiled and delivered a small curtsy. "I'll be sure to keep the offer in mind in my dealings with the Captain. Considering the lengths he has gone to in order to delay our introduction, I know you're ship and crew must be of a much more refined nature." Monty laughed heartily when Mal just gave her comment an eye roll. 

Mal stopped Jayne from taking a seat with a small shove. "Jayne, why don't you go help Inara get us all some drinks." 

"Cap'n?" Jayne asked incredulously. 

"You heard me, now get." Jayne grumbled as he stomped past Inara to push a path clear to the bar. 

"That one looks to be a bit more concerned with his coin than most of your crew Mal," Monty observed. 

"He's a quick learner," Mal explained. "Jayne and I have come to an understanding." 

"Fair enough, now how 'bout you explain exactly why I had to fly my shuttle out to the armpit of the beyond to meet with you Mal," Monty ordered. 

Mal gave his old friend a lopsided smile. "You sound suspicious of my intentions old man." 

Monty narrowed his eyes at the younger man and leaned across the table towards him. "I trust you, Mal, and that says a lot. I respect your smarts too, but I know you wouldn't resort to this type of arrangement unless the stakes were high. Now I ain't got enough to go risking it unless there's some money to be gained out of it." Leaning back, Monty picked up his pipe and took a puff before finishing. "Zoe didn't lead me to believe there would be much of a payoff, but she got me curious. So talk or call your pretty girl back over, I'm getting tired of looking at your ugly mug." 

Mal removed a small video player from his coat pocket and slid it across the table. "Before you look at that Monty, I need to tell you a story. Trust me when I tell you I had a hard time believing it even after staring the living proof in the face," Mal began. 

Across the room, Jayne was getting annoyed. Inara wouldn't let him return to the Captain's table, but she insisted he drink no more than two glasses of alcohol while they waited. Hell, he still didn't know why they were meeting Monty out in the middle of nowhere either. Hopefully the other man had contacted them about a lucrative job, he thought as he continued to observe their surroundings. He frowned when he saw Mal give Monty a video player. What in the diyu were they doing here anyways? 

Inara watched Monty's face as carefully as she could from her position. The other man was clearly finding Mal's story farfetched. His skepticism remained even after he turned on the small player and watched the prepared video. Unfortunately they had been unable to record either of River's earlier fits. As it was, the video Monty was watching only showed a clearly disturbed girl, but lacked in any type of coherency. Changing her attention to the Captain, she spotted the signal indicating he was ready for their return. 

"Mal, you gotta be joshing me. You want me to help you storm a military facility in the Core based on this go-se?" Monty demanded with a skeptical look. 

Mal stared at his old friend with stony expression. "I'm deadly serious Monty. I know it sounds like paranoid ravings, but in this case it's the god's honest truth." 

"And exactly how do you propose to pull this off?" 

"I'm still working at that. Right now, I'm looking to organize the man power. I hope that we'll be ready to move in no more than three months." 

Monty shook his head as Inara and Jayne approached their table from behind Mal. "You were crazy during the war Mal, but you've become downright psychotic since then." He accepted a full glass of beer from Inara as Jayne sat down beside him heavily. 

Mal stood and roughly pulled Jayne up. "We got business to attend to. Inara, we'll come back to collect you when we're done." 

Inara nodded and smothered a chuckle as Jayne complained about being forced to leave before he was drunk. She turned to face Monty when she felt his questioning gaze. "So, you knew Mal during the war?" she prompted. 

Monty nodded, but didn't answer. He continued to fiddle with the player in his hand, rewinding and forwarding it over the image of River's haunted face. "You're on Mal's ship right?" At her nod, he continued. "What's your opinion about this child then? She naturally crazy or what?" 

Inara paused before answering, considering her words carefully. She sensed that the older man was intrigued and deeply disturbed by Mal's story even if he was reluctant to believe it. "She is profoundly troubled, but at times the medicine allows us a glimpse of the child that Simon knew." 

"Simon, that's the doc that got her out?" 

Inara nodded. "And her brother. He had held onto the hope that he could fix her and undo the damage, but, well the past few months have shown him that the damage may be ongoing." 

\-- 

Outside the saloon, Jayne was tired of being ordered and pushed around. "Cap'n, wha's going on? Is Monty offering us a job or what?" 

Mal just continued to walk down the street before turning into an alley. After walking far enough to be out of sight of the street traffic, he turned on the mercenary following him. "I have a better question. Are you going to be content to follow my orders or are you going to get stupid again?" 

Jayne blinked in surprise at the question. "What are you going off about? That's water under the bridge." 

Mal stepped closer to him and kept his voice quiet. "Maybe you haven't noticed, but there's someone on my crew in pain. I mean to do what it takes to help them. Now the question is, are you going to follow my orders or are you going to stay behind?" 

Jayne's eyes got wide as he began to understand the Captain's plans. "You're gonna go up against the feds and whatever else took that girl's brain apart?" Mal just remained silent as his hand brushed his duster behind his gun holster. 

Suddenly sweating, Jayne considered his options. He felt badly enough for River, but the last thing he wanted was to gain first person knowledge of all that she'd gone through. Jayne had thought that Mal would talk some sense into Zoe when she started digging around into the Doc's past about how he got his sister out. Instead, it was starting to look like River's insanity was spreading. "Look, I don't even know what your gorram plan is, how am I supposed to decide if I wanna take part in it?" 

"Look Jayne, it's really pretty simple. You're either in and learn the plan as it develops or you're out and you never have to worry about it again." 

"Fine then, when we get back to the ship, I'll say goodbye and you can drop me off on Persephone." 

Mal shook his head. "Doesn't work that way Jayne. There won't be any goodbyes other than me watching you walk away from this alley." 

"That ain't fair, Mal. I don't have all my gear with me." 

"I consider it compensation for the damages incurred by the bounty hunter that located us off of your tip on Ariel. Now start walking," Mal ordered as he pulled his gun. 

Gorramit, the man was a certified lunatic. To tell him he couldn't say his piece to the rest of the crew and refuse to give him his gear, it just weren't right. Course, maybe he was just crazy enough to pull off the impossible too. Job like attacking that Academy, there would be lots of fighting. Those Hands of Blue, they had sounded pretty scary on Ariel, but it weren't like they was Reavers or the like. "Fine, I'm in. Can't believe you'd be so mean as to not let me say goodbye," he complained as Mal put up his weapon. 

\-- 

Monty turned off the player and sat it down close to Inara's glass. "You understand this all sounds like some elaborate con. And if it's on the up and up, it sounds like Mal's finally gone and found his suicide mission." 

Inara struggled to not react to Monty's words. She had wondered at his relationship with Mal and Zoe both during and after the war. Perhaps this was the man the crew had to thank for Mal's continued existence after Serenity Valley? "Mal has moved slowly in order to assure that we have every chance of succeeding," she finally answered. "I assure you that this girl's condition isn't fiction. If you like, we can send you a copy of the medical scans and you can get a second opinion." 

Monty laughed at the suggestion. "I see why Mal brought you. You have a lot more honey to offer than Zoe." He stood as he placed some coins on the table to pay for the tab. "Tell Mal I need to think it over. I'll be in touch," he said before leaning down to apply a chaste kiss to Inara's cheek. "And I was serious about my first offer too," he told her with a wink. 

Inara met Mal and Jayne outside the door of the saloon. "He said he'd consider it." 

"Huh. That was more than I expected," Mal stated with open surprise as they walked back to the shuttle. 

* * *

Chapter 6: Uninvited Guests  
Chinese Glossary  
Ta ma duh - motherhumper  
Ta-ma-de hwu dan - mother humping son of a bitch Liou coe shuai du biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh ur-tze - salivating son of a bitch and a monkey Guai - devil 

\-- 

"Everything go smoothly?" Zoe inquired as Mal joined her and Wash on the bridge. 

"No problems. Monty wants to think a bit before he commits though," Mal told her. "You?" 

Wash held up the bag of platinum that was sitting on the map console. "We got paid." 

"Good, look's like everything is in order then. Inara?" Mal asked. 

"Simon's 'friends' left instructions. We're to meet them on Station C6 at the Dancing Ship Saloon in three days," Zoe supplied. 

"Gorramit," Mal cursed. "That's barely a stone's throw from the Core. That place is crawling with Alliance." 

"Adds to the excitement of the matter, doesn't it?" Wash quipped. Mal just glared at him in response. 

"I already talked to Kaylee. She's going to rig a video link so that Simon can stay on the ship," Zoe explained. 

Mal shook his head as he walked off to his bunk. "If'n only she could do that for all of us." 

* * *

"Is she asleep?" Mal asked Simon as he entered the kitchen to join the rest of the crew. 

Simon just rolled his eyes. Mal's paranoia about River's abilities had only increased since he had made his decision to attempt to help her. If the man had his way, River would stay comatose until the entire scenario was over and done with, he thought to himself. "Yes, she should be unconscious till morning," he answered scornfully. 

"Good," Mal replied, clearly ignoring Simon's tone. Boy was going through a lot. He could make the occasional allowance, he supposed. "Now then, anyone here that hasn't caught on to what we're planning to do?" Mal asked the rest of the crew as he continued to pace at the head of the table. Receiving no response, he continued while making sure that he made eye contact with each person seated around the table. "If anyone has second thoughts as to whether they wish to participate, we'll be docking at Station C6 tomorrow afternoon. This mission won't be smooth and I can't promise we won't be royally humped for a long while after it. Anyone wants to leave, won't be no hard feelings or judgments. Just let me or Zoe know and keep your mouth shut about the plans if ya don't mind." 

Simon struggled to not laugh at the Captain's speech. After all his high handed talk about good men not having a choice, the man was trying to talk the entire crew out of helping. Suddenly, Simon had to bite his lip as he envisioned the Captain's face when he realized he had no pilot or mechanic with which to attempt his rescue. The man and his first mate might be insane, but the rest of the crew? Not so much, he thought. 

"As awe-inspiring as this little pep talk is, perhaps we could get to the actual plan?" Wash suggested. Okay, well most of the crew weren't crazy, Simon amended. 

"Right. Kaylee, how's the video feed coming?" Mal asked the mechanic. 

"Works great Cap'n. Tested it this afternoon with Inara and Jayne," she answered with a proud smile. "Course, I may need to make a few adjustments tomorrow. The station will have a lot more interference than Serenity." The Captain raised his eyebrow at her answer clearly not pleased with the suggestion. 

"Not to worry Mal. Simon has given us full descriptions of all the men he met with. If necessary, I should be able to pick out our contact," Inara assured the group. 

"Course all this is worthless if they send a fella the doc ain't met before," Jayne stated. 

Mal glared at the mercenary. "No need to go borrowing trouble at this juncture. Our schedule ain't set in stone," he stated before turning back to Inara. "You're clear on what to say and the like?" 

Inara nodded. "Shepherd Book and I know our parts. We'll have no problems." 

"Okay. Once you two know who the mark is, give the signal. Zoe and I will have our eyes on you. We'll start scouting for the man's backup and pick up his trail once ya'll are done," Mal outlined. 

Book raised his hand. "And then what Captain? We do need the good graces of these men to accomplish the task." 

Zoe answered before Mal could snap at the shepherd. "We're aware of that Preacher. However, it will be difficult and dangerous to go into all of our needs in a public setting." 

"So we'll arrange a private meeting that's convenient for us," Mal finished. "Not very Christian, but it gets the job done. Jayne, you clear on your part?" 

"Yeah," the other man grunted. 

"Then tell it to the group," Mal growled. 

"I stay put on the ship unless Zoe tells us there's more'n one other guy," Jayne offered sullenly. 

Mal nodded. "Fine then, any questions? Okay, let's get some sleep then." 

\-- 

Inara glanced around the saloon as the Preacher went to the bar to get them both some drinks. They had taken great pains to dress in average clothing, but she was beginning to wonder if they had gone far enough in their attempt to blend in. All around them, people from very different walks of life mingled easily in the boisterous mix of humanity in the bar. Everyone except for her and book, she thought to herself. She glanced up when she felt a hand on her elbow. 

"Don't look so worried dear, people will think we're hiding something," Book told her as he handed her a glass. She raised an eyebrow at the parasol-ed drink. Book just smiled. "Has it been so long since you've been one of the average people?" 

She started to settle into her character now that she wasn't alone at the table. Normally, she didn't like to talk about her past before joining the Guild. People often wondered what would make a child agree to join such a profession at the young age required to be accepted for training. Inara had always detested those who presumed to judge her or her family. "A lifetime ago it seems sometimes and others, it's as if I left yesterday." 

Book nodded. "It can be difficult to determine if the path we chose is the one we should have taken." 

She tilted her head as she scanned the crowd behind her companion. "There is something to learn from all the paths we travel and in the end, they ultimately take us to the same place." She raised her hand before he could answer her again. "There he is, he's talking to the bartender." 

"Zoe sees him," Book stated as he saw Zoe give him a hand signal. "Now it really starts." 

"Indeed, at least for us." Inara looked up pleasantly when the man she had spotted appeared at Book's elbow. He was about Simon's height, but a little lankier in build if that was possible. "Good to see you cousin. I'm glad you had time to meet with me on such short notice." 

"As if I would miss seeing my favorite cousin and her new husband," the man answered as he leaned to kiss Inara's cheek. "I must say, he's not what I expected." 

"Well, my ex was so much younger than I. I felt that a more traveled and experienced man would be a better fit. Like you used to say Sal, the right marriage is like the right glove," Inara explained. They had been worried that the contact would not meet with them if Simon was absent, but Mal had felt that the man should be smart enough to figure out that a wanted fugitive on a station so close to the core was asking for trouble. Unlike the stations on the outer rim, this one sported security cameras in every conceivable location. 

Sal sat down between Inara and Book. His blonde hair was shoulder length and somewhat shaggy, enough so that it fell forward often to obscure his face. Inara wondered if he really liked the style or if it was convenient to prevent a good picture of his face. His clothing indicated that he was just a class below true wealth, that or his conspirators had enough money to provide him with an expensive costume. She found herself wondering at his life. To continually have to hide his identity at times, never able to be truly direct with his friends and family. If he had a wife, did she know of his involvement with this underground group? 

"I understood from your message that your husband knows some individuals with a business proposition?" Sal asked. 

Inara nodded. "Yes, Bruno," she tilted her head in Book's direction, "feels he could have a successful shipping company with access to the right information and employees." 

"Information is the key though," Book interrupted. "It in and of itself would lead to the acquisition of the proper individuals." 

Sal leaned back and looked at both. "You ask a lot without much in return." 

"Cousin, it's not like you've never done something like this before," Inara soothed as she grasped his hand. "Often, the knowledge of helping others find their calling in life can be its own reward," she finished as she felt him grasp the data stick in his hand. The money contained in the account on the stick was but a small pittance compared to what Simon Tam had been able to funnel to the organization before his accounts were closed, but it was more than the average citizen of the Alliance would see in five years of honest work. 

"And often, those who find their calling wish to reward those who made it possible later," Book suggested. 

"The window would be short you understand. This business is very volatile and changes rapidly," Sal explained as he pocketed the data stick. 

"A window is all we need," Inara replied. 

"Fine, then. I'll be in touch cousin. Hopefully you won't have changed husbands again by that time," Sal warned. 

Inara gave Book a flirty wink as she hugged Sal good-bye. "Oh, I think this one's a keeper." 

\-- 

"He's about to leave," Mal stated into his communicator. 

"I see him. Did you spot anyone else?" Zoe's voice asked. 

Mal scratched at the earpiece as he replied. "Negative. It looks like he entered the saloon alone. Might be someone expecting him on a ship though." 

"Do you want to take him or wait?" 

"Just follow him silent-like. I'll be a ways behind you, so keep me informed." 

"Fun, I always enjoy stalking," Zoe joked as she moved to follow Sal out of the bar. 

"Wash, fire Serenity up as soon as Inara joins you," Mal instructed as he headed towards the door. 

"Sure thing," Wash answered. "We'll be ready when you are." 

Mal looked around the station's corridor after he identified the direction that Zoe was headed in. No one among the crowds of shoppers and businessmen appeared suspicious. Mal nodded at Book as the older man approached and started walking in the direction Zoe had gone ealier. "Keep a sharp eye preacher, our man could have help that didn't come to the meeting with him," he instructed. 

Book's lips twitched as they walked into one of the station's open air markets. "I'm aware of that Captain. I'll keep watch if you would like to get closer to Zoe." 

"Naah, I'd just cramp her style," Mal replied. "Ta ma duh, did you see him?" Book nodded and left the Captain's side. "Jayne, we need you now. Come to the main market and find Book. Have a visitor we ain't spoken to yet." 

"On my way," Jayne responded. 

"Walk soft you two. I ain't got time to be worried about bailing you out." Book forced himself not to laugh at Mal's warning. Most times, the Captain got into more trouble than Jayne did. 

\-- 

Mal caught up with Zoe outside of the docking area for private shuttles. "He went in, but hasn't started the ignition sequence yet," she replied to his questioning look. 

"Spotted a friend he might be waiting on. Book and Jayne are going to offer an invite to the party. Kaylee?" 

"I hear you Cap'n. Ready to tap into the security vids whenever," the mechanic offered. 

"Now would be a good time then," he informed her as he followed Zoe to the air lock. 

"Got it, you're clear to go." Zoe immediately began to force open the door while Mal readied his weapon. Once the airlock opened, Mal burst through with his weapon up. 

"What the?!" Sal hollered as Mal pushed him back down into the pilot's chair. Zoe quickly closed the door. "Who are you people?" 

"Quiet, the party's not all here. Preacher?" Mal asked. 

"We've picked up the guest and are on our way to the party," Book's voice answered. 

"Good. Kaylee, keep your interference going till I say when. Then get the ship outta here and off the shipping lanes," Mal ordered the mechanic via communicator. 

"I don't know who you think you're dealing with," Sal started again. 

"What part of shut your mouth don't you understand mister?" Mal growled. He nodded when Zoe signaled that Book was approaching. Once Book and Jayne escorted their "guest" into the shuttle, Mal thumbed his communicator again. "You're clear to take off Kaylee. Tell the flyboy not to take his time; this tin can's a tad crowded." 

"Shiny cap'n. See you soon," Kaylee answered, clearly happy that the plan had gone smooth. 

"Gorramit, who the hell are you people and what are you doing on my ship?" Sal demanded angrily. 

Mal snorted. "This ain't a ship, it barely qualifies as a shuttle. Now you're going to get up careful like and let the lady behind the controls." Sal stayed put for a moment before giving in to Mal's demands. "That's a good boy. Go sit with your partner." 

"My partner? I thought he was with you?" Sal asked. 

"Ta-ma-de hwu dan," Mal and Zoe swore at the same time. 

* * *

Mal was still swearing by the time Zoe had docked the small shuttle to one of Serenity's airlocks. Book and Jayne had attempted to remain invisible during the voyage as both were more than a little worried that they would become the focus for Mal's anger. Zoe simply ignored her friend while Sal sat next to the unknown man with his confusion still unanswered. 

Once the airlocks of both ships locked tightly together, Jayne and Book exited the ship without delay. Mal motioned with his gun for the two guests to follow before shutting the shuttle's airlock behind them. "It was too much to ask for it to go smooth just one gorram time wasn't it?" 

Zoe carefully maintained a passive face. In the past she'd learned the hard way that when Mal was in this mood he was likely to mistake any facial expression for amusement. "Don't know that it hasn't Sir." 

"Know something I don't Zoe?" 

Zoe shook her head. "You spotted him Sir. I trust you to be able to spot a tail. Possibly our man didn't know the feds had IDed him yet." 

"Diyu. That's all we need, another gorram nosy fed to worry about." Mal leaned against the wall and rubbed his face. He was beginning to look forward to getting back to honest crime; this conspiracy and rescue bit was too gorram complicated for his tastes. "Well can't be helped. Got him now. Want you and Jayne to take the John Doe down to the cargo bay - make sure he doesn't catch site of our fugitives. Jayne can scare him some, maybe it'll be as easy as the last time to find out what's going on." 

"How much can Jayne scare him?" 

Mal rolled his eyes as he opened the hatch. "I want him conscious and coherent in case we need other methods, beyond that, use your best judgment." 

* * *

Sal was seated comfortably at the kitchen table by the time Mal and Zoe exited the ship. Book and Wash stood on opposite sides of the room, but all three were completely silent. Sal's eyes immediately lit with anger when Mal entered with Simon at his side. "Liou coe shuai du biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh ur-tze," he growled. 

"Now, now, is that any way to talk to an old friend," Mal reprimanded as he pulled a chair out from the table and turned it around. Sitting down with his arms resting on the chair back, he continued. "I understand you're a little upset at our methods, but we needed a longer and more private discussion than we could arrange. I assure you, no one here means ya any harm." 

"You people are insane. Any deal we had is off, this is not how we do business," Sal stated as he angrily brushed his hair out of his face. 

Mal nodded to Book who left the room. Turning back to blonde man, he shook his head. "That's disappointing and a little short sighted. However, I'm a reasonable man so I'll let you listen before you make up your mind. Doc?" Mal prompted. 

Simon cleared his throat and sat down at the table as well. "Sal, you have no idea how grateful I am for what you and your organization did for me. While you did profit from it, I hope that you were involved for reasons other than money because I, or rather, we need your help again." 

"Look, I don't give a good gorram about you or your money. This ain't how I operate and thanks to you I'll be lucky to end up like your sister instead of dead," Sal retorted as he leaned closer to Simon. 

Mal reached over and pulled the thinner man back into his seat roughly. "We know it ain't how you operate but it couldn't be helped. Ya see, there have been some complications since you parted ways with his sister. We think we've come up with a way to resolve them, but we need info." 

Book entered the room leading River. The girl had not been having a very good day and one only need to look at her to see the effects the past few months. Her skin clung to her bones and the mismatch of clothes donated by the crew hung on her thin frame. Despite Simon's best efforts, River continued to be violent enough to renew the bruises on her arms almost daily. The fact that her violence was directed only at herself was somewhat of a mixed blessing. It only weighed on the fortunate side when one considered the fact that the fits were generally short lived. 

Mal looked at Sal, evaluating the effect of the girl's appearance on the other man. Before he could continue the discussion though, River spoke up. "You should be thankful, they saved you too. If you weren't here, you'd be in the black and your familiars would meet the blue." 

Sal swallowed, visibly disturbed by her words. "We didn't promise she'd be the same when you got her back Doc. Ain't no refunds just cause the merchandise is broken." 

Simon stood abruptly. Leaning into Sal's space, he declared, "She's not merchandise you guai." 

"He's right, she's just a kid. So are the others," Mal added. 

Sal's eyes widened. "You're crazy. You can't possibly mean to. ." 

"Crazy, why's everyone call us that?" Wash asked. 

"We're serious son. Believe it," Book told the man. 

Sal shook his head as he pushed back from the table. Wash stopped him from standing. "You idiots don't know what you're getting yourselves into. This ain't something you can do with a few guns and some luck. We're talking a corporate government facility. Security so state of the art that its specs don't exist on any system you can hope to hack. You are so far out of your league!" 

Mal looked back at River before meeting the man's eyes. "I think we know a bit as to what we might be walking into. And we don't plan to do it with only a few guns. Hopefully, you understand that the reason you're here is so we don't have to rely on luck. Now, I don't appreciate a stranger telling me what league I'm in when they ain't even heard the plan, so I suggest you get comfortable with the idea of helping us real fast." 

"He'd be happy you helped. Too late, but better than never," River spoke from where she stood in the doorway. 

The color drained from the lanky blonde's face as River's words registered while all the defiance in his body language evaporated. Mal thought that the boy would fall down if he had been standing. 

"What? How . . " Sal asked. Mal raised his eyebrows at this development. Sounded like things were starting to go their way. 

* * *

Mal left Book and Simon to listen to Sal's knowledge of the Blue Sun facility where River had been held. During their chat, he'd had an idea about how to handle their mysterious guest. With the excuse of taking River to the dorm, he managed to take her to the sickbay without Simon's knowledge. River started to fight him once he opened the door to the sterile exam room, but he quickly embraced her with a firm grip to prevent her from hurting either one of them. 

"Easy now girl, not going to be doing anything to you. Just need your advice on a truth serum," Mal soothed. 

River quieted and relaxed in his arms. "Truth serum is misnomer. Various chemicals simply make a person more loquacious." 

Mal released his hold on her as he led River into the infirmary. "Well now, that's not exactly what I wanted to hear." 

"There are chemicals that can allow me to tell if the subject speaks the truth however," she added with a smile. 

"That's more like it. What are they and where?" 

\-- 

Mal and River arrived in the cargo bay in time to see Jayne throw the mystery man against a stack of metal crates. "Easy Jayne, I said scare not throttle," Mal called out. 

"He ain't getting talkative," Jayne explained. 

"Well it generally helps not to knock the sense out of 'im if you hope to change that," Mal informed him a tad angrily. He glanced at Zoe to determine why things were going differently than they'd talked on. 

Zoe shrugged. "The less direct methods weren't working sir." 

"Man insulted my interrogation techniques," Jayne added. 

Mal rolled his eyes. "I wonder why." He knelt down beside the recovering man. He was possibly shorter than Wash and balding enough that his hair color was questionable. Otherwise his appearance was one of a person accustomed using his muscle against others. Mal yanked on one of his bound arms to pull him into a sitting position. "Did you at least get a name?" 

Zoe shook his head. "None that his mother would have given him anyway." 

Mal sighed. He'd hoped to only use the medicine and River as a threat, but now it looked like they'd really see what the girl could do with her mind. "Look you, we're gonna find out your business one way or another. Lot easier for all concerned if you just tell us." 

The little man coughed and spat on the floor. "You're a fool. When I'm not heard from -" 

"When you're not heard from, they'll go looking for the man you were following," Zoe supplied. "No one will be looking for us and I doubt they'll think to check for you in any slave pens on the Rim." 

"It alright to give this to him with a concussion?" Mal asked River. 

River nodded. "Only a fifteen percent chance of adverse reaction with head trauma. Three percent chance of allergic anaphylaxis under ideal conditions." 

Mal smiled at the small man. "Guess that means only an eighteen percent chance of you dying before we find out what we want to know," he said before grabbing the man's head so he could inject the chemicals into his neck. 

"Do you want me to take River to her room?" Zoe asked as Mal stood. 

"No, we might need her here," he answered. 

Zoe looked at him questioningly. "Sir?" 

"Jayne, go make sure Simon doesn't start looking for his sis." Turning to the teen, Mal asked gently, "River, how's this gonna work?" 

River shrugged as she began to dance around the bay distractedly. "Don't know. Depends how conditioned he's been, how willing he is to keep secrets. The false will shine as brightly as the truth; only a discerning eye spots the pyrite." 

Zoe walked over to Mal. "You're letting her conduct the interrogation?" 

Mal shook his head. "No, she said she'd be able to tell if he lied." 

Zoe's face crinkled with displeasure. "And you approve of letting her do it?" 

Mal shot a frustrated glare at Zoe. "No, it ain't on my top ten ways to find things out. However, we have a rather large wrinkle in an otherwise not too shabby plan. There's only so long we can keep this hundan without anyone getting wise. If you have any suggestions as to how to do it faster and be certain of what we hear, I'm all ears." 

Zoe face tightened into her normal expression as she stepped back, but Mal could tell she thought that his idea was a bad one. Mal shook his head. He'd love to protect River from all the bad in the 'verse; unfortunately, they'd recently been learning on a daily basis that the girl had had her own classes on the evils of mankind. Truth was, Mal wasn't sure if he'd ever know if her nightmares were worse than his. If nothing else, River had been dealt a crueler hand by the Shepherd's gorram God in that she'd had her innocence stripped far earlier than he or Zoe. 

Mal turned back to the reason for his disagreement with his second in command. "River, is it time yet?" 

River stopped her twirling next to Zoe and squatted down to look at the man. Cocking her head she replied, "He's opening up, worried you'll sell him or let Jayne have his way." 

Mal heard Zoe struggle to swallow her laughter at River's observation. That was definitely an image he could have done without his ownself. "Okay then. How 'bout a name mister?" 

The small man turned his jowly face towards Mal as if he were drunk. Blinking hard, he replied with a slight slur. "Thomas Pollard." 

Mal grinned down at the man. "Good now we're getting somewhere. What were you doing on Station C6?" 

A couple of minutes ticked by while Mal and Zoe waited for Pollard to answer. The man's face continually moved as if he was inwardly debating on what to say. Finally, when Mal was about to give up and move on to other methods, Pollard spoke again. "Paid to follow a man, report on what he does." 

"Untrue!" River yelled as she threw a stray bolt from somewhere at the still prone man. 

Mal motioned to Zoe that she should attempt to deal with River's antics before the girl managed to do some serious damage. The bolt hadn't hit Pollard's head, but he wasn't for sure that it didn't go where she was aiming it. "My friend disagrees. Care to rethink your answer?" 

Pollard frowned. "That was it, that's what I was there for. When he left, I was to inform them." 

"Them who?" Mal asked. 

Pollard rubbed his balding head with one hand as he supported himself with the other. "I don't know for sure. They work for Blue Sun, wanted to know where Tzernaky went and who he saw. Told me after arriving at C6 that they wanted to know his registration numbers and when he left the station." 

Mal looked to River. She shrugged. "It's what he thinks he knows," she told him. Mal rolled his eyes. He wondered what River thought that statement meant. 

Mal turned back to their unwilling guest. "Why's Blue Sun interested in this fellow? He doesn't strike me as the corporate espionage type." 

Pollard pushed himself so he was leaning more against the crates and pulled his knees up. Resting his elbows on his knees, he started to rub his head with both hands. "Don't know, they just paid me." 

River shook her head, but Zoe stopped her when she pulled her arm back to throw another projectile. "Wrong answer Tom, I gotta say, I'm get a tad tired of your lying." 

"Don't know, just did what I was told," Pollard argued. 

Mal walked over and pulled the man up. "Look, all you gotta do is tell me why they wanted this guy followed. If it's reasonable enough and doesn't have anything to do with me, then I'll apologize profusely and set you off wherever you want. Hell, you can even take Tzernaky with you in cuffs for all I care. He welched on our deal and I ain't too happy about it," Mal lied smoothly. 

Pollard tried to struggle, but gave up the attempt quickly. "Okay okay, just let me go." Mal complied making sure the smaller man could actually stand on his own. Pollard was starting to look a little pale. 

Once he was standing, Pollard continued. "Told me to follow this guy, that he'd had contact with someone who'd stolen a piece of property from them. Since he was still at large, the company assumed they'd try to contact him again to fence another piece. Paid me to follow Tzernaky while promising a bonus if I could spot a fellow by the name of Simon Tam. I'm sure you've heard of him, his picture's been plastered on the cortex for over six months now I think." 

Mal turned to River to make sure she didn't say anything. He didn't think that this hired hand knew anything about her, that or he wasn't coherent enough to recognize the other Tam who also had a warrant out on herself. River was still intent on Pollard though. Maybe the medicine was wearing off and it was harder for her to tell if he was speaking the truth or not? 

River suddenly looked Mal in the eyes. "Better get Simon down here. Tom's had an adverse reaction," she stated in a detached voice. 

* * *

Chapter 7 

"What are you going to tell them?" Zoe asked. 

Mal turned to face her. Standing just outside of the infirmary, they were watching as Simon attempted to save the life of Tom Pollard. "Don't see that anything has to be said. Accidents happen." 

"That's what you think this was? An accident?" she asked as she waved her hand at the image in the window. Simon had just stopped trying to revive the man who had apparently been paid by Blue Sun to follow Sal Tzernaky. 

"Do you really think talking about it is going to change it? It's done with, we focus on the job and move on." 

Zoe moved closer to her Captain when Book entered the lounge area. They both nodded to him as he entered the sick bay to administer last rites. Zoe resisted the urge to slap the man next to her. "Are you being purposely dense? We just saw River do what we'd all been afraid of. Thought you'd learned in boot camp that ignoring the unpleasant only gets you killed." 

Mal looked her in the eye as he considered her statement. "She hasn't hurt a one of us Zoe. Moreover, I'm not about to ask Simon to prove his sister didn't kill that man. It was an accident and that is what the crew will be told. Now, have you got 'nother bone to pick with me or are we through?" 

"You shoulda told me about Jayne." 

Mal looked away from her as Simon exited the sickbay. He nodded to the doctor. "Your sis is in 'Nara's shuttle," he stated. 

Simon nodded, but stopped in front of him. "Aren't you going to ask?" 

Mal turned to Simon with a dumbfounded look. "Ask what?" 

"How he died? Are you dense? And how did you know to give that serum to him anyway?" Simon demanded. 

Mal clenched his teeth. Everyone wanted him to save River's little friends, but they all wanted to question how he did it. "It was something I heard about in the war is all. It worked, we know what we need to," he answered as he gave Zoe a look to tell her to keep quiet. 

"And you're not the least bit concerned that he's dead?" Simon continued. 

"Fine. How'd the stiff die?" Mal asked. 

"An aneurysm. Due to his concussion and the blood thinning qualities of your poorly concocted truth serum," Simon explained. 

"Horrible. Complete tragedy how the man Blue Sun paid to follow the fellow giving us vital intel has died. Who woulda gotten a bonus, by the way, had he caught a sight of your pretty face," Mal responded. 

Simon was clearly stunned by the captain's revelation. "Oh. Wait, what was River doing down there then?" 

Mal turned to glance at Zoe. She had a smug look on her face. This whole situation had gotten a lot more complicated than he'd planned. No one ever appreciated it when the enemy dropped dead anymore. "She wandered in while we were questioning the man. He didn't get a good look at her and he won't be telling anyone if he did, now will he?" Mal stated. "Now why don't you go on and check on her. There's business to take care of yet." 

Simon nodded and headed towards the cargo bay. Mal walked off with a sigh of relief. Zoe may still be upset at his methods, but he was likely to lose it if he had to explain his actions one more time. He found Jayne in the kitchen eating. "Where's our friend?" 

Jayne jerked his head toward the bridge. "Going over coordinates with Wash." 

Mal nodded. "Preacher's finishing up with the other one. Go down and give him 'n Zoe a hand with the disposal in a few." 

"How come I gotta? I didn't kill him." 

Facing the food storage bins, Mal closed his eyes tightly. The entire gorram crew was questioning him. That was gonna have to change if they had a chance in hell of pulling this off. "Do we need to replay the conditions of your employment?" Mal asked as he started opening bins and shutting them loudly. He heard a cup set down and footsteps leave the room. 

Giving up on the idea of food, Mal turned and walked toward the bridge. He found Wash and Sal pouring over star charts with a complex time schedule displayed on the computer screen below it. Mal leaned against the lockers, making sure he made enough noise to alert the other two to his presence. "Might want to ditch your shuttle. Can't be certain the snitch didn't get a chance to transmit your registry. We can drop you off at the port of your choice of course," Mal offered. 

Sal just shook his head as he turned back to the charts. "Too risky, they already know about me anyways." 

Wash looked up. "The best time is going to be in two weeks Captain. The facility will be undergoing a change in security squads and there will be a period of a skeleton crew during the transfer." 

Mal frowned. That would be squeezing it to get everyone into place in time. "If we wait, when's the next?" 

Sal shrugged. "Actually we won't know. Our insider will be transferred out and we won't be certain if he'll be rotated back again." 

Shiny. He'd been certain they'd have several months to plan the infiltration. Instead, they'd have only two weeks. Mal had known in his gut that this plan wouldn't go smooth, but the bumps were starting a lot earlier than he'd expected. "Wash, radio Monty and inform him we'll need another meet, his choice this time. Anything else to recommend before you leave Sal?" 

\-- 

Four days later, Mal sat with Zoe and Monty at an equipment auction on Boros. Kaylee had convinced him that they needed several more items to fully equip Serenity and both shuttles. An added bonus, at an auction like this, no one would think twice about seeing the captains of two less than reputable transport ships together. 

"I don't like it. It's too soon," Monty groused quietly. 

"Can't be helped," Mal said as he nodded to Zoe to bid on the next piece. "Can you get a hold of Sug in time?" 

"Might be, but she ain't gonna want to get involved without platinum," Monty answered. Mal frowned at him when the other captain raised his hand to offer a competing bid on the shuttle fuel injector. 

"The two of you can have anything worth selling," Mal offered. "We need her hacker assuming the nut hasn't managed to get his self killed yet." 

Monty laughed. "Sug never does let him fight. Man complains he's the only person that wants to sign up with the Alliance so's he can see more firefights." 

"I imagine he sees plenty after making a statement like that in front of Sug," Zoe offered as she finally won the bidding contest with Monty. 

"Cecil ain't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed," Monty offered with a laugh. "I broached the subject with Sug, she's wary but interested." 

"You mean she didn't leap at the chance to see me again?" Mal asked with mocking incredulousness. 

"She did say that the opportunity to shoot you in the ass again was attractive," Monty said as he and Zoe started to laugh at the memory. "How'd that tattoo work at covering up the scar?" 

Mal just ignored the question. He was lucky that Zoe hadn't told the rest of the crew that story yet. "We'll need a fast, small ship. Preferably one with room to dock our shuttles." 

Monty nodded. "Sug just bought a second; mercenary business is still pretty profitable on the outer rim. Imagine one of the two will work. Course, it's your ass if it gets damaged." 

"We'll meet on Santo's outer moon in nine days. Will that be enough time to get supplies?" Mal asked as he stood. 

Monty nodded as he raised his hand to bid on the next fuel injector. "Have to be," he stated as Mal and Zoe departed to collect their purchased items. 

\--  
<5 days later>  
"Are you all set Inara?" Mal asked. 

Inara nodded. "We don't have to leave tomorrow Mal. A few more days won't make much of a difference and River would prefer to stay with Simon as long as possible." 

Mal shook his head. "We're meeting up with Sug's crew earlier. I ain't eager to give any of her boys the extra temptation of both Tam fugitives in one place. She runs a tight ship, but she's generally not too choosy as to her hires." 

"And you are?" 

Mal rolled his eyes as he sat down on the couch in her shuttle uninvited. "More choosy than she is. Then again, only criteria I know for a fact that Sug has is that all of her crew are slower on the draw than she is." 

"Sounds like a magnificent woman. Were you close?" Inara inquired discreetly. 

Mal started laughing at her statement. "Me and Sug? Guess Zoe hasn't told you anything about her yet?" Inara shook her head. "Sug shot me in the back during boot camp cause she was convinced I was the reason Zoe wouldn't sleep with her!" Mal kept chuckling at the idea of that warrior woman being involved with him. "Hell, only reason I'm still here is Zoe managed to knock her aim off by throwing a rock at her head." 

Inara grinned at the image he painted. "And the historians wonder why your side didn't win the war." 

"I doubt Sug would have acted any different on the other side of it," Mal stated. "Anyways, I think River would make her nervous. Probably best the girl doesn't know too many specifics of the plan anyway." 

"You're still worried they'll know," Inara stated. 

"We've seen firsthand what River can do when we face something unexpected. I don't want to underestimate those who've gone through what she has." 

Inara nodded. "Then we'll be ready to leave first thing in the morning." 

\-- 

"No, don't leave me," River cried as she grabbed her brother's sleeve. 

Simon looked down at his sister in bewilderment. "I'm not going anywhere mei mei. I'll be across the hall sleeping." 

"You're going to leave me. You don't love me, not like you love Kaylee," River stated. 

Simon smiled at River lovingly as he returned to sit beside her on her bed. "I'm not going to leave you dummy. No matter how many people in this 'verse I fall in love with or let into my life, I'll always love you best. I'll always be there for you." 

River shook her head. "No, you're going to leave me. You're going to have Inara take me away so you don't have to worry about your crazy sister." 

Simon swore silently to himself. The captain had been right; they couldn't keep their plans from River after all. He wondered how long she had known and worried about this idea. He forgot sometimes how much she still didn't understand about relationships and life anymore. Sometimes it seemed she had less of a grasp on reality and social mores now than she did when she four and correcting the grammar in his school essays. 

"River, I need to ask you something," Simon told her. River's eyes widened in frightened anticipation. "I need to know, how much do the others . . . how much can they understand from you?" 

River's head wrinkled at his question. When he was certain that she didn't understand or couldn't answer, she suddenly spoke in a small voice. "Too busy telling me how bad I am, in too much pain to look for answers to questions they'll never dream to ask." 

"Come here, River. It's okay," Simon said as he gathered her in his arms. "Don't worry, I'll never leave you. I came for you and someday, when you really want me to leave, even the captain and Jayne won't be able to make me do so." River pulled back and started to correct him, but Simon put his finger to her lips. "Shhh, I promise, I won't leave you without coming back okay? You're right, Inara is going to take you somewhere safe tomorrow. But we'll all come back on Serenity for you, I promise." 

"But why? I can love you more I promise," River sobbed. 

"Oh mei mei, you don't need to love me any more than you already do. You'll go with Inara because I need to know that you are safe while we go to help the others," Simon explained. 

"They're beyond help Simon. The Hands of Blue keep the angels away and scare the shadow of death." 

"Well the Captain disagrees, and you know him. There is no hope of convincing him otherwise." 

"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. If they get out, they'll still come two by two, hands of blue. And we'll all bleed red." 

At a loss of what to say that might offer her some comfort, Simon hugged his sister tight. "Don't worry River. I'll always come for you," he offered. 

"So will they," she whispered into his chest. 

* * *

A/N: Sug is pronounced "Shoog" at least in my head.

Chapter 8: Introductions  
Chinese Glossary  
Tzao-gao - oh crap  
Go-se - dog crap 

Mal stood behind Wash as the pilot guided Serenity in its docking to the smaller, faster Lightning-class mercenary ship. Inara and River had left the previous day when Serenity flew by Athens. The planet had been a bit out of their way before the meet with Sug's ship, but Inara had assured both he and Simon that the Companion's Guildhouse on Athens possessed several acquaintances and that the House Priestess had previously agreed to take several of the children once the mission was over. This way it would be their first stop after they hopefully succeeded. 

Mal directed his thoughts away from his stray crew. The situation before him would be tricky enough without any distractions. Sug had agreed to join the mission, but only with her older ship and several of her more trusted comrades. Hopefully they were trustworthy enough. 

"Serenity to the Expeditor, preparing to dock in 6, 5, 4, 3 . ." Wash called over the cortex as the two ships merged cargo bays. 

"Expeditor here, everything looks tight on our end. Disengaging engines and controls to your helm Serenity," the pilot of the other ship replied. 

"Shiny Expeditor. See you in a few." Wash flicked several switches and engaged the autopilot. "Everything's smooth Captain." 

Mal nodded. "Good. Now remember, be cautious as to what you let drop. Don't know how much Sug has filled her people in on," he warned as he turned to head to the cargo bay. 

"Captain, how come we haven't done business with this chick before? I mean, I thought we were in business with most of your old war buddies," Wash asked as he followed Mal through the ship. 

Mal laughed. "Ask your wife." 

In the cargo bay, the two men were greeted by Zoe who was waiting with the Shepherd and Jayne. "Where's the Doc and Kaylee?" 

Jayne answered with a smirk. "She's comforting him over the departure of the loony." 

Zoe swatted Jayne on the arm. "Remember, watch what you say. Sir, are you sure this early meet is a good idea?" 

"The good idea is saving Sug's ship nearly three days worth of fuel for when we need our speedy get away. Besides, hopefully she'll respect the sanctity of marriage," Mal offered. 

Wash raised his eyebrows. "Oh, so Zoe's been worried this war buddy will make a move on me. Don't worry lambie-toes, I only have eyes for you." 

Mal laughed as he stepped onto the cargo bay floor. "Yeah, that's it Wash. We were all worried Sug would find your manly wiles irresistible." 

Zoe shot a glare at Mal as she went to stand behind him with her husband. Mal hit the inter-ship comm before entering the code to open the bay door. "Kaylee, Simon, if you'd join us it'd be appreciated. Clothing required though. Look respectable people," Mal admonished as Jayne tried to quiet his laughter. 

The doors opened to reveal a very muscular, butch woman of average height. Her black hair was cut shorter than that of most of the men surrounding her and her Hispanic skin was spotted with several tattoos where it was uncovered by clothing or bandannas. The rest of her group were similarly muscled and of varying ethnicities except for one tall, exceptionally well built man who bore a strong family resemblance to the woman in front of him. 

"Sug, glad you could join us," Mal greeted. He pointed to his crew as he introduced each of them. "You know Zoe, and the ragamuffin beside her is her husband and the pilot of this fine craft, Wash." 

Wash felt a moment of panic as the female Captain glared at him as if she were ready to kill him before she smiled flirtatiously at his wife. Tzao-goa, at his wife! 

"The fella with the collar is Shepherd Book, he's surprisingly 'versed in criminal ways for someone of his order or so I'm told and the fella next to him is Jayne Cobb. Oh, and our late arrivals are Simon, our doctor, and our mechanic, Kaylee. Who is off limits by the way," Mal stressed. 

"Monty said you needed manpower, but he didn't say you had no fighters," Sug greeted as she stepped onto Serenity. 

Mal waved Jayne down when the merc started to list his experience. "Yeah, well they can fool the eye, that's for sure." 

"He's right sis, they managed to take out Niska's place after all," the heavily-muscle giant beside Sug pointed out in a baritone that matched the woman's. 

"Yeah, well the angels always look out for fools and Malcolm Reynolds, right Zoe?" Sug stated. 

"I don't know, that's the preacher's area, not mine," Zoe answered. 

"Good ship you got Mal. Surprised you still got it with as little space experience as you have. Any way, you know most of my boys here. Good shots every one and my brother, Cecil, is the best hacker on the Rim, of course," Sug said as way of introduction of her group. 

"And the worst shot too," one of the other mercenaries laughed. He was quickly silenced by a slap from Sug. 

"God gives us all different talents and ways to kill folk. Now then, surely you got some liquor stashed away so the bonding can commence before the bloodshed?" Sug asked. 

Mal nodded as Zoe opened a container of assorted alcohols and Book opened another containing protein rations. 

"Try to make sure they put down their weapons before you let them have a drink," Zoe whispered in Wash's ear as the party commenced. 

\-- 

Several hours later, Wash finally managed to retreat to the catwalk where Kaylee and Simon watched the chaos below. He wasn't ecstatic about leaving his wife alone in the presence of that lecherous Amazon, but he was hopeful that Zoe possessed the fortitude to fend off Sug's advances. He shook his head as he plopped down beside Kaylee. "Never thought I'd meet any of their war buddies that were less cultured than Monty's gang," he observed. 

Kaylee nodded, still a little dazed from the short amount of time she'd spent amidst the revelry below. "They's all cruder than Jayne!" 

"Except for Cecil," Simon stated. "I don't think I've ever seen muscles that big." 

Wash started to laugh at Simon's statement. The doctor had a way of managing to say things in the most wrong way possible. "Zoe told me that Sug wouldn't let her little brother fight in the war. Made him go off to school on Osiris instead. Maybe you two took some of the same classes Simon?" 

Simon shook his head. "I would definitely remember anyone that... large," he replied with a slightly awed expression on his face. 

Kaylee began to giggle with Wash. Someone had definitely had too much to drink tonight. Too bad they didn't have a recorder with them. This blackmail material would keep Wash out of kitchen duty for at least a month. "Well, he seems to know his stuff. Although how that man fits in a cockpit is beyond me!" Hell, the idea of the larger man behind Serenity's somewhat spacious pilot controls boggled the mind, Wash thought. 

"They all seem to know their stuff," Kaylee stated somewhat soberly. "Heard some of the stories they was telling to Jayne." 

"Well, it is what they do for a living. Although I'm surprised the Alliance lets a mercenary group of their size continue to operate," Simon said. 

"Two Lightning class ships, they could run rings around most of the fighter groups the Alliance vessels have. And stand a reasonable chance of doing some damage to one of the big ones," Wash explained. 

"Well, hopefully they'll be enough to get us in and out of the Blue Sun Complex," Simon added. Kaylee gave the doctor a hug after hearing his sad tone. 

Simon had been pretty disturbed after his sister had left. He'd told Wash that River had made some unsettling statements that he hoped were due to her nervousness at their separation. Wash looked back down to the assembled mercenaries on the floor. He wasn't sure if he was comforted by the fact that Mal, Zoe and the Shepherd looked out of place in their company. "Hopefully it'll all go smooth," he said quietly to himself. 

\-- 

"You're a fool Reynolds if you think this go-se is going to go smooth!" Sug said dismissively the next morning. 

Mal gestured carefully for his old army buddy to sit down at the table. Slowly drinking his coffee, he silently hoped that the hangover cure of Simon's would kick in soon. Otherwise he'd bait Sug into shooting him just to end his misery. "It's a solid plan based on reliable intel. If you can think of improvements, I'm all ears." 

"How 'bout you scrap this stupid idea and hightail it to the Rim? We got some work we could use a ship of your size on." 

Mal shook his head. "Tell me you didn't come out here just to offer me a job and waste my time." 

"Hell no. Was hoping that Zoe would change her mind in the bargain." 

Mal opened his eyes and looked across the table. He let out a loud curse when he saw Sug grinning widely at him. The gorram woman was pulling his chain while he was hung over. There oughtta be a law, he thought. 

"Seriously Mal, I'd prefer to be doing this with at least twenty more men," Sug stated. 

Mal sighed. If wishes were horses he thought. "So would I. If you know twenty more we can trust, be happy to pick 'em up." 

"That's the kicker ain't it," Sug said as she rose to get a cup of coffee. "Tell me straight out sarge, ain't you ever considered turning 'em over? The re-ward would have you flying without a care for more'n two years." 

Mal sighed. Leave it to Sug to force him to talk about the elephant in the room in return for her help. At least he knew the rest of the crew was still sleeping off the night's celebrations. "Thought about it for eight hours actually....till our mechanic woke up after the gorram fed shot her. After that, started to enjoy the idea of having something the Alliance was searching for so hard." 

Sug nodded. "Yeah, well, you and Zoe never did let go of your grudge much after the camps." 

Mal's eyes flashed with anger. "You wouldn't have either if you'd stayed in the war." 

Sug held up her hands. "I didn't come looking for a fight Mal, just stating a fact," the muscle-laden woman responded in a surprisingly soft tone. "Besides, not like I didn't warn you. When Cecil told me what the Alliance had held in reserve, how much they planned to throw at us there at the end... Well, I wasn't fightin' out of conviction like some. So no, I don't hold a grudge, but I don't mind making their life a little harder either. I lost a lot of friends at Hera." 

"And I watched them die and kept fighting amongst their bodies." 

"That you did. Guess I'm still a little sorry that I abandoned you two before y'all shipped out to Serenity Valley. But I don't plan to walk into a massacre with ya out of guilt neither," Sug said as she walked to the table. Mal met her eyes and realized that the one person he feared on a battlefield more than Zoe was determined to get through the coming battle alive. "Now then, let's go over these plans again and see if we can't eliminate the desperate from our situation." 

\-- 

Cecil finally found Kaylee deep in the bowels of Serenity where she was trying to implement the latest pieces of hardware that Mal and Zoe had purchased on Boros. "Need any help?" 

Kaylee squeaked and jumped when she heard the deep voice behind her. Briefly she was reminded of the last time she'd been surprised by a non-crewmember in the engine room, but that memory was quickly wiped away when she saw Cecil's large, concerned face peering down through the engine. 

"Sorry about that, just thought I'd see if there was anything I could do," Cecil apologized as he helped her maneuver her way out from under the engine block. 

"Nothing to worry about, just gave me a fright. Would think you'd make more noise," Kaylee answered as she gingerly rubbed the knot on her head. 

Cecil chuckled. "Well blame Sug, she was disappointed enough I didn't have any aim as a kid, said there was no way she was going to let me embarrass her by being clumsy on top of it." 

"Where..?" 

"Left her lifting weights in the cargo bay with your man Jill, is it?" 

Kaylee silenced the giggle that threatened when she imagined Jayne's reaction if he heard that. "Jayne," she corrected. 

"Right, sorry. Jayne is attempting to prove that no woman can out lift him. I think he's going to be horribly emasculated before the day is over." 

"That or in love," Kaylee joked as she started to clean up her tools. 

"Like I said, emasculated. I don't think Sug's gone out with a guy since she was fourteen," Cecil explained. "Anything I can do? I've never been on a Firefly class before, although I've tried to get Sug to consider buying one." 

Kaylee lit up at the chance to show off her girl. "Serenity may not look like much, but she'll fool the eye. Anything in particular you wanna see?" 

\-- 

Mal watched the scene below from the catwalk. Jayne was struggling to lift an extra twenty-five pounds more than the heaviest weight he normally used during a workout. He was going to have to go and break up the testosterone battle downstairs before Sug crippled his mercenary. Course, first he'd need to go and rouse Zoe as well as find several large guns. 

Mal turned when he heard a large groan behind him. Simon Tam stumbled down the steps from the galley holding a cup of coffee. The boy looked a touch worse than Mal had been feeling earlier that morning. "Thought I told you to not get into any drinking contests with those lugs doc." 

"You neglected to mention how to politely decline a drink from someone that outweighs Jayne by two hundred pounds," Simon complained softly. 

Mal laughed. "Can't say I've figured that one out yet either." 

They remained silent for a few minutes as they watched Sug easily bench an additional fifty pounds from what had been on the bar a few minutes earlier. Simon nearly choked when he saw Jayne slide onto the bench and turn an angry color of red as he struggled to complete five reps. Book shot a significant glance at the two men above from where he stood spotting for the two competitors. 

"He's not going to be able to move tomorrow. Of course, that's assuming he doesn't pull anything," Simon pointed out. 

"I know, but I'm more scared of waking Zoe so we can put a stop to it than I am about whether he'll heal in the few days till we meet Monty." 

Simon frowned as he searched for a political correct way to discuss his concerns. These barbarians didn't seem to possess an inch of skill at anything approaching stealth from what he'd witnessed so far. Somehow he doubted that brute strength alone would give them success. "Captain..Mal," Simon started before going silent. 

"Spit it out son. I promise I won't hit any unarmed men with hangovers," Mal said with an easy grin. 

"It's just, are you sure these are the right people to go about this with? I mean, obviously their skilled and ...well, the term big springs to mind, but they don't seem to have much finesse." 

"Don't worry doc, Sug's been killing men and scaring the fight out of the rest since before the war. When it comes to top notch plans and soldiering though, I'd wager that she ties Zoe easily. And I promise, she wouldn't have brought anyone down there if she didn't think they were capable of doing the job," Mal reassured him. "Trust me, Sug is even less fond of the idea of this job going anything but smooth than I am. Now, looks like I'd better go and save Jayne before you end up with a patient." 

Simon sighed as he watched Mal descend the steps to the contest below. Privately he hoped he was more impressed with the appearance of Monty's crew. Despite Mal's assurances, he silently worried that Sug's group was all brawn. 

\-- 

Sug and Cecil joined Serenity's crew for dinner that night. Kaylee was glad for their presence. The one meal that the crew had had before meeting Sug had been terribly depressing. River and Inara's empty chairs had seemed to suck almost all of the energy out of the room. Even Jayne had been subdued that night. 

But then, Jayne was pretty subdued tonight too, Kaylee thought as she poked him in the ribs when he tried to get a taste of the chili she was preparing. 

"Oww!" Jayne yelped as he shuffled away from the pot. 

"What are you hollering about you big sissy?" Kaylee sassed. 

"Nothing, just hurt is all," Jayne complained as he gingerly lowered himself into his chair. 

Kaylee shook her head at his movements. Book had filled her in on Jayne's impromptu competition with Sug and the end result. The preacher was still put out that the Captain had let the folly continue as long as he had, but Kaylee knew the Cap'n couldn't have stopped it earlier without making Jayne look bad in front of the other fighter types. As it was, he'd timed it well enough that Jayne was still mobile. Or sorta mobile, Kaylee corrected as she watched the sore mercenary struggle to reach a dropped fork without moving his torso or arms much. 

"Let me get that for you," Cecil said as he walked into the kitchen with his sister. Kaylee hid her grin as she saw Jayne roughly brush the larger man's hand away and grab the fork with only a hint of a grimace. 

Book moved to help her carry the pot of chili to the table as the rest of the crew straggled in. Once everyone was seated, casual conversation surrounded the table as the food was passed. Kaylee smiled to herself, it was nice to have a break from the stress of planning the mission. It was nice to see everyone relaxed and enjoying themselves again, at least for a short while. 

\-- 

Mal awoke with a strange sensation. As always, he carefully examined his surroundings. In space, some might consider such a precaution a sign of paranoia, but Mal found his training from the war to be useful so he'd never tried to change it. Looking around on the battlefield before being fully awake had saved his life more than a few times so it only made sense to keep up the practice. 

This time though, his senses told him things that couldn't be true. Instead of Serenity's gray walls and the decorations that he had accumulated in the years since finding his girl, he saw white. White and drips of red. This had better ruttin' well be a dream he thought, otherwise someone was going to get hurt. 

Giggles sounded all around him. He attempted to spin to locate the source, but couldn't get a bearing on any point. Come to think of it, he couldn't feel his body none either. 

"He's not aware. We could finish it now," he heard a boy's high pitched soprano say. 

"She'd be upset. Still can't stand against her even with distance as a buffer," a small girl echoed from the same unseen places. The gorram room echoed something awful and Mal felt himself getting a tad worried at the current situation. 

"He refuses to accept what he cannot understand. He'll be of no help anyway," a boy said. Mal was too disoriented to tell for sure if it was the same voice as the first one or not. 

"Do you see anyone else offering?" someone said. They sounded a little older, a little more tired. 

Mal found himself trying to speak, but was unable to overcome the fact that he couldn't feel his face or anything else. Had he gotten hurt? Did Sug shoot him and fail to miss this time? 

"This grows tiresome. Accomplish your task before you run out of time . . . THEY will return soon." 

"We know what we're doing. If you don't like it, do it yourself," the girl's voice said sullenly. 

"You know why you received the task. Just accomplish it...or do you enjoy how we live?" the older individual asked. 

"Bi zui!" the boy ordered. 

"He's right though," the girl whispered. 

"Now then Mal, can we call you Mal? If we can have your attention," the boy began. Mal struggled to react, to move. He had a feeling that he'd need to do so soon. 

"He's too agitated. I can't keep him asleep much longer like this," the girl stated in a tentative voice. 

"No one appreciates the dramatic touches," the boy complained. "Calm down Captain, you're still on your ship and not in any danger...well not much anyway. If you want to say something, just think it. Mei mei will hear it and pass it along. Do you understand?" the boy asked in a more soothing manner. 

Mal tried to calm down as he thought through what he was hearing. This didn't feel like any dream or nightmare that he was used to, but no one could reach out and talk to you in your dreams...Could they? 

"You give her all kinds of powers that she doesn't possess and you can't conceive of her or us being able to speak in your mind? You disappoint me. She'd made you seem almost intelligent," the boy said in a dismissive tone. "This is a waste, as are you." 

Dan nang! It wasn't River, but then...the other ones? How they would even know who he was or how to...Okay, okay, getting downright terrified weren't going to help matters none, he told himself. He tried to organize his thoughts, but it was a difficult process when one was asleep and struggling to accept all kinds of foreign and alien notions. 

"What do y'all want?" Mal attempted to ask by thought. "Ya know, it's generally good manners to introduce yourselves to strangers before threatenin' 'em and the like." 

The girl laughed, but not in a pleasant way. "He's just like she described." 

The boy grunted in response. "Introductions are complicated for us. Memories of names, of lives, those things attract attention...attention that would most likely be harmful to you right now. If necessary, you can name us to help you cope for the duration," the boy offered. 

Oookay. This dream was getting less dream-like by the minute. However he wasn't comfortable talking to people without names especially when he couldn't see them. Brought back all kinds of unpleasant memories and not all of them recent. 

"How 'bout Danny? Does Sue suit you honey?" Mal asked. 

"Those are fine, it makes no difference. We are running short on time though," the boy explained. "If you are comfortable enough to not be in danger of expiring, perhaps we could continue with something relevant?" 

"Fine then. I'm listening," Mal said while thinking about how this kid needed to learn some old fashioned manners. T'weren't right to be disrespecting one's elders. 

The boy laughed. "You are odd. I see why she likes you, she always did like anything different. Course, we all thought she was stupid. Always going on about how her da ge was going to come and save her from these evil people. Joke was on us, I'd guess you'd say," the boy said. 

"Danny, you're getting distracted," Sue called to the boy. 

"Don't get attached to the name he gave you. It will only cause trouble," the boy chastised her. "Now, Mal, how long until your group attacks the complex?" 

Mal suddenly froze up, his thoughts going silent. 

"Made! Are you always this suspicious? We're not THEM and we won't inform on you. We just want to have those as can help ready and alert," the boy said with frustration. 

Mal remained silent and even attempted to hold his breath. No way was he going to do anything that might jeopardize his crew. 

"Knew I should have done this by myself," the girl stated. "Go away, I'll handle it." 

"It's dangerous...You might not be able to make it back," the boy said with something that might be construed as concern. 

"And would that be so bad?" the girl asked him. "Go, I'll be back or I won't." 

Mal thought he could almost see her smile lovingly at the boy, at Danny. See? How was that possible in this blinding whiteness? 

"Can't make a place with three...too difficult for me. Maybe even too difficult for her," Sue said as a body grew a little more substantial beside him. Beside him! Thank god, finally. Sue smiled at him, "It is a little bit easier to do this when you're not scared out of your mind. Sorry about Danny, but he gets a little uppity." 

Mal nodded. "Boys can do that sometimes," he told her. 

Sue giggled. "He'd be mad to hear you call him that. Sometimes I think he may be as old as you." She shook her head and got serious quickly. "This is difficult though, not sure how long it will last. We do need to talk." 

"If you want to know what he was asking, I ain't telling you neither little girl." 

Sue sighed. "You don't understand Mal, we're not going to impede you. THEY can't do this and THEY haven't quite figured out how to force us to tell THEM anything. Not and still have us able to do what THEY want anyway." 

Mal nodded. "That's good I suppose, but I ain't got where I am by trusting every cute little girl who wanders into my dreams neither." 

Sue cocked her head. "I suppose it doesn't matter. We'll know when you arrive..." Sue smiled as she realized something. "We'll all know once you kill one of THEM. That should be proof enough." 

"Proof? Why don't you just state plain what's going on in your head hon?" 

Sue looked up at him, considering. Mal was amazed at how real she looked. Her hair was a bed of white-blonde curls around a small elfin face. She looked to be no older than nine or so and her ruffled blue dress caused her to appear doll-like. If this was a trick on the part of those Academy freaks, then they couldn't have picked a better guise. If it weren't, he swore he'd make them suffer for her. 

Sue gave him a shy smile as if she'd heard his promise. "That's sweet, but just succeeding will be enough for me. Anyway, she didn't tell us you know. We picked it up and hid that we knew. I've told Danny we shouldn't have been so hard on her anyway." Sue shook her head. "Sorry, it's hard not to get distracted sometimes. Our plans are simple really. Most of the time we don't dare to see if we can do anything to THEM...partly we don't want to know their thoughts and partly we know that eventually we'll have to stop and then we'll be at their mercy....But when you come, we could do something to give you an edge. Maybe just enough of one to actually turn the tide of fate and rewrite our futures." 

Mal almost spoke his plans...he almost gave in. She looked so full of hope and all of it placed in him. He'd had that before...and all it had given him was a load of guilt and regrets. He stopped his mind and blanked it before he gave it all away. He'd never forgive himself if he failed River like he'd failed at Hera. 

Sue smiled and approached him. She wrapped her small, frail arms around his waist. "It's good that you won't tell us. I think it will help convince the others we haven't gone crazy. Remember, as soon as you kill one of THEM, we'll know. Then we'll be able to help. Remember." 

"Wait a second," Mal told her as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Who's THEM?" he asked the air in the white room. 

Mal awoke the next morning with the memory of a pixie girl who wanted him to kill. 

* * *

Chapter 9: Moonshine  
Bi zui - shut up 

Zoe looked up from her work at the kitchen table when Mal entered the room. In the process of conducting an inventory of all the weapons available as well as ammo, the entire armory that she shared with Mal was spread over the table. Zoe started to worry when her friend didn't even glance at the table, but instead went to lean against the coolers while staring up at the ceiling and the stars that shone through it. 

"Just what do you think little River is really capable of?" he asked her. 

Zoe remained silent as she considered the reasons for his question. Surely Mal wasn't thinking they should have River along on the mission...eerie aim and abilities notwithstanding, there was no way to know that the child wouldn't freeze if confronted by her former tormentors. 

"Hard to say sir. She knows about weapons, how to use 'em. Has a good head for tactics as well as being able to understand her enemies. Other than that, I can't begin to fathom what a Reader could truly do. I mean there are the stories in the books I had as a kid, but I haven't seen that River can do any of those things," Zoe answered finally. 

Mal had continued to look at the stars throughout her reply. "What's on your mind Sir?" 

"A dream...or nightmare, not rightly sure." 

Zoe knew the types of nightmares he normally had, she shared more than a few. Mal wasn't the type to talk about them though...sometimes sharing that burden even with her just added to the misery rather than relieving it. And if the reunion with Sug had brought up different dreams, Mal wouldn't be thinking on River. "Maybe if you tell me what you're thinking, we can figure that out?" Zoe suggested. 

Mal finally looked at her and she began to wish that he hadn't. The man looked like he'd just seen a ghost, but a ghost wouldn't scare Mal. She knew he held the memories of their dead close enough that he walked with ghosts all the time. No, this was different. 

"What if I told you that I think we might have some unexpected help when we hit that place?" 

"I'd want to know who was crazy enough to help and why. Unexpected help doesn't necessarily mean they're allies," she told him. 

"I just don't know if I understand how to signal them." 

"Them?" 

Mal shook his head. Best to not burden Zoe with his dream or vision. It wouldn't be a good thing if the person watching his back thought he was cracking up. "Nothing, it's probably stress. I'm gonna check to see that everything's good on Monty's end." 

Zoe stared at his back as he retreated to the bridge. Shaking her head, she hoped silently that her Captain wasn't ignoring his danger signal again. Although it was vague at times, it had saved both of their lives more than once. 

\-- 

Mal was glad to see that the bridge was empty. Cecil was busy teaching Wash the ins and outs of piloting the Expeditor, so the ship was operating on autopilot while both pilots kept tabs on the radar readings just in case. 

Mal briefly considered the risks of what he was about to do before turning on the cortex. Within a short time, Inara's face appeared on the screen. 

"Mal, what are you doing? You..you know I asked not to be disturbed during my business," Inara quickly stated. 

Mal nodded. "I'm sorry about that. I needed to know if our mutual acquaintance was fine with the arrangements or if we'd need to pick you up early," he explained. He couldn't come out and ask Inara if River had gotten a visitation from her friends as well, but maybe the Companion could use her reading abilities to understand what he needed. 

"Everything is fine Mal. The rendezvous date we've previously arranged will be fine," Inara stated. She was surprised that Mal was concerned about their reception on Athens; she'd told him that the House Priestess had no problem with sheltering River. 

"Okay then," Mal replied. Before he could act on it, his intention of ending the call was interrupted by the appearance of River behind Inara. 

"Ai ren, no, I told you to stay over there," Inara worriedly told the teen as she stood to block the cortex camera's view of River. 

River remained behind Inara, but spoke loudly enough that Mal could hear. "Now you understand, they exist everywhere and won't leave till the story ends. They share the enemy but once the blue dragon is defeated, allies might not be friends." 

Mal struggled to understand River's meaning; only a couple of days since the girl left and already her babble seemed to be incomprehensible symbols rather than a code he readily understood. 

"What sign or gesture are they looking for from their allies?" Mal asked. Inara glanced back at the cortex screen with a befuddled expression, clearly puzzled that Mal was continuing the conversation and risking exposure if any federal agents were monitoring cortex traffic. 

"Sue spoke plainly. If you need additional help from an unexpected ally, kill one of THEM and the others will come to the knight's aid. Once the genie is unleashed, it won't want to return to the bottle though...it will be a fulfillment of THEIR plans," River stated with her eyes slightly out of focus. 

"But who are THEY? How will I know if I need to?" Mal asked desperately. The conversation had gone on too long, but he was loath to give up without this piece of information. 

"Hands of Blue, two by two," River chanted as she darted out of Inara's grasp. "Blue bleeds red, but the damage will be done. A common enemy gone leaves forces divided." She gave the captain a brief nervous smile before ending the cortex call. 

* * *

"Hey there Lil' Kaylee. Got everything ready for Santos?" Mal asked as Kaylee and Cecil exited the Expeditor airlock. 

"Put in the damaged cooling unit just like you asked. Gotta say though, first time I've ever broke a ship on purpose!" Kaylee answered. "It sure don't feel right." 

"Promise, soon as the dock inspectors get through with us, you and Cecil can put her to rights," Mal assured her. "We're landing in twenty minutes, so why don't ya make sure Zoe and Simon are ready." 

Kaylee nodded and started to head for the passenger dorms before turning with a cheerful smile. "Oh, that reminds me, Wash said he wanted to talk to ya," she said as she continued to walk backwards. 

"Pay attention to where you're going 'for you fall girl! Simon can't fix you up and I know you don't want Sug to start sawing on ya," Mal warned her. 

Cecil snickered. "Sug any happier yet?" 

Mal shook his head as he started to walk towards the bridge with the taller man following. "No and I'd take it as a kindness if you'd switch her ammo with some blanks before this is all over." 

"Uhuh, I learned a long time ago not to get between her and a target. Sorry Cap, but you're on your own!" Cecil replied with a mocking tone. 

Mal sighed as Cecil left to talk to the Preacher about something. No one had been showing him any sympathy since he came up with a foolproof plan for landing at Santos' docks without drawing attention to the large number of former Browncoats that were now on board. 

"Wash, what's up? Kaylee said ya needed to talk." 

"Mal, she's my wife!" Wash protested as he turned away from the ship's controls. 

"Not again! Look, I told Sug ten times already but I can't..." 

Wash interrupted him before he could finish. "This isn't about that. How come Kaylee can't dress up and Zoe can play engineer." 

Mal raised his eyebrows at the suggestion. Kaylee was a lot of things, but suited to the role Zoe would be playing wasn't one of them. "Cause, if they ask what's wrong with the other ship, we've gotta have someone that can explain it...and show 'em if they get to tetchy about it." 

"I can fix things. I could show them." 

"You're the pilot Wash, not the mechanic. No offence, but I wouldn't let you near Serenity's engines and I'm pretty sure Cecil feels the same way. Now would you mind watching where ya drive my boat?" Mal asked as he pointed towards the viewing windows. 

"But Mal," Wash whined. 

"No buts. It's too late to change the plans and everyone's already geared up." Mal turned his back on his disgruntled pilot and left the cockpit. If one more person complained about their job, he swore to himself that they could ride outside the ship for the landing. 

"But it's MY dress. Nobody else is supposed to see her in it," Wash whined quietly. "Especially not Jayne and Sug," he added silently to himself. 

\-- 

Mal managed to stay out of everyone else's way until after the ship had landed. No need in listening to more complaints and demands. Not like he exactly relished the part he was to play himself. Still, more'n a few of the people on board would draw eyes under ordinary circumstances. Now with an extra six mercenaries not counting Sug and Cecil, any Alliance dock inspector that laid eyes on them would want to tear the entire vessel apart looking for contraband unless their eyes were directed elsewhere. 

"Everyone and thing in place?" Mal asked as he descended from the catwalk. 

Shepherd Book nodded from where he stood next to a clearly unhappy Sug. "All accounted for and in place Captain." 

"Good. The feds wave yet?" 

Wash nodded from where he was sulking next to Kaylee. Good, let her deal with his attitude Mal thought. "They'll be here in five or so." 

"Kay then, everyone remember their lines," Mal ordered as he opened the cargo bay doors. 

Several minutes later, three men in Alliance uniforms appeared. Two carried weapons and had the bearing normally associated with the mentally challenged soldiers that generally made a career of enforcing the Alliance's suffocating laws. The third looked like the typical accountant: short, thin with a pinched face and glasses that just screamed at the world how much he loved numbers and databases. "Captain Zeter?" he called. 

Mal stepped forward with what he hoped passed for a servile smile. "That would be me sir. What can we do for ya folks?" 

The soldiers looked bored with the entire procedure, but the pencil pusher's expression became very suspicious as he surveyed the people assembled in the cargo bay. "I'm Inspector Nicos," the small guy answered. "You told the controllers that you'd assisted another ship in space and therefore had more people than shown on your papers. Care to explain?" 

Mal nodded meekly. "Well, see we came on the ship drifting. Being in the Core, we doubted there was much chance for ambush so we offered to help. Turns out their engine's busted and we didn't have any compatible parts so we offered to tow them to your fine moon here." 

"I see," Nicos said suspicion clearly on his face. "And exactly what was wrong with the ship." 

Mal shrugged his shoulders. "No clue myself, but my engineer can explain it all to you." 

Kaylee stepped forward. "See their turbine turner overheated cause the coolant line wasn't pumping. Engine was a little different than I'm used ta, but pretty sure all it needs is a new cooling unit." 

"Hmm...you wouldn't mind if I examined the engine myself would you Zeter?" the inspector asked. 

"Shiny as far as I'm concerned, though you may want to ask the ship's captain first." 

"And that would be?" 

"Me," Cecil said. The dock inspector turned and slowly kept looking up and up as Cecil had stepped so that he was directly behind the smaller man. 

Nicos coughed as he stepped back. "Yes, well, lead the way. Andrews, check their ident cards and registry while I'm gone." 

One of the Alliance officers stepped forward. "You heard 'em, line up and have your cards ready." 

Twenty minutes later, everyone's ident cards had been swiped without any commotion. Nicos returned a short time later with Cecil. While he stepped a short distance away to confer with his companions, Mal took the opportunity to talk to Cecil. 

"Problems?" 

Cecil shook his head. "Nope. Didn't even ask to search anything after he saw the mess in the engine room." 

"Score one for Kaylee's space monkeys," Mal joked. 

"Captain, I'm sorry, but we will need to conduct a search of your vessel. Considering the number of passengers you have as well as your planet of origin, we need to be sure there is no contraband on board," Nicos explained. 

Mal nodded. "To be expected. Don't like taking passengers from the Rim, causes all kinds of hassles at the docks. But money's money and some of them border folk get right tetchy when you refuse 'em passage." 

"Yes, well, you could always confine your business to the Core after all," Nicos suggested as he signaled the other officers to conduct the search. 

Mal shrugged. "Yeah, but the going rate is a lot higher given the lack of traffic they see. So long as they keep their noses clean and don't bring their trouble with 'em, I've got no problem taking money from those dirty Browncoats." 

Nicos nodded in sympathy. "They do make it hard for one to feel sorry for them. What about your crew? I notice more than a few of them are from the Rim worlds themselves," Nicos asked. The man obviously wanted more information, but felt above lowering himself to talk to any of the other individuals on board. Which was just fine with Mal. 

Mal leaned against the cargo bay door controls and ran his hand through his hair. "They're a handful alright, but I get to pay 'em a lot less than Core trained that's for sure." Mal gestured slightly with his elbow towards Jayne. "Take him for example. Classic merc through and through, but pay him a pittance considering I know a few planets that have a reward out for him. Man actually stole money from Canton's magistrate if you can believe it." 

"And you don't worry about bringing an outlaw with you to the Core?" 

"Nah, anything goes wrong, I know it's him and turn him over for the reward money. Hell, if something don't go wrong and he matches any descriptions, I'd turn him over anyway for the extra cash," Mal joked. "Now her, she's been more'n handful," Mal shared as he gestured towards Kaylee. 

Nicos gave Mal a lecherous smile as he nodded. "Course, helps that she's more than a fair hand at fixing the engine too," Mal continued 

"I bet," Nicos leered. 

"Unfortunately ain't gettin' quite the use out of her I planned. Had to ask her father to get her to join the crew, and he was worried about his baby girl. So ended up w/ him as a gorram passenger," Mal explained with a touch of bitterness as he gestured to Simon standing behind Kaylee. 

Mal had figured it was too risky to stow the fugitive in a hidden compartment, so instead they were hiding the boy in plain sight. Inara had purchased stage makeup as well as hair coloring at one of their last planetfalls before they started the journey to the Core. Now Simon was dressed in some of Book's tailored clothing with fake wrinkles and liver spots applied liberally to any skin that showed. Additionally, Kaylee and Jayne had taken great pleasure in helping him to bleach large portions of his hair white. Book's clothing was still a tad large so Simon was wearing several pieces as if he had problems keeping warm. The doctor would not pass for less than sixty-five if a day. 

"And her, surely you don't have any other use for her?" Nicos asked with distaste as he pointed at Sug. 

"Our medic? Nah, woman's too ugly and her husband would take offence," Mal replied as he waved in Shepherd Book's direction. 

"She's married?" 

"Well, all I can assume is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder there," Mal answered. "That or the preacher decided to marry her for penance." 

"Then there's the pilot. Man just ain't right. But then again, I'd be happier if more of my crew didn't mind being paid in knockoffs of Earth-That-Was toys. Man still thinks the plastic dinos I gave him as a bonus are true antiques." 

"You are a ruthless businessman Zeter," Nicos complimented him. 

"Wait, I almost forgot, you're missing the best part," Mal said with enthusiasm. "You and your men deserve a bit of a treat for having to deal with all these Rimmers. Inara, the dock inspector needs to check your papers," Mal called over the comm. 

"Be right there," a sultry feminine voice echoed back over the speakers. 

"Decided to rent out my shuttle one day; best decision I ever made," Mal explained. "This companion took the lease. Real sick kid, gets her kicks out of entertaining the unwashed nobility on the Rim." 

At that moment, Zoe stepped out of Inara's shuttle dressed in a tight fitting, low cut, royal purple dress with gold trim along the bottom and the edges of the leg slit which opened enough to see her upper thigh as she descended the catwalk. All three of the feds paused to gape at the spectacle. Mal shot a dark glare at Wash when he heard the pilot give a whimper of complaint. None of the officers would be much interested in looking in too many crates as long as she was on deck. 

"Inspector, allow me to introduce Inara Serra, Companion," Mal stated. 

"Well, Captain, I can see that you run a tight ship here. I think that everything is in order," Nicos stammered as he fumbled with Zoe's ident card. 

"Actually sir, we found some contraband," one of the soldiers stated. 

"Huh?" Mal asked with surprise. 

"Let's see it," Nicos ordered as he followed the man to one of the hidey holes. In front of the loose panel, a crate containing ten bottles of liquid sat. The soldier offered another which was opened. Nicos sniffed it. "Moonshine Captain. Care to explain?" 

Mal started to turn red. "Jayne!" he yelled. 

"What?" Jayne asked as he approached the circle around the contraband whiskey nervously. 

"What is this?" Mal asked pointing at the crate. 

"Well, uhh, one of the fellas from Zephyr paid me a bit to stow it when I loaded his luggage," Jayne answered. 

"Where is it?" Mal asked with his anger visible. 

"Where's what?" 

"The money you lummox!" 

Jayne fumbled in his pocket before handing over a small bag of coin. "Here 'tis. Sorry sir, won't never happen again." 

"That's right, cause you're staying here. Get the gorram hell off my boat!" Mal ordered as he drew his weapon. 

"Now Captain, surely this isn't necessary. We can take him into custody," Nicos stammered. 

"One thing I've learned from dealing with these no-good Browncoats is you can't let them pull something over on you. He'll be a lot more miserable trying to eke out a living on this moon than he will be sitting in your jail cell Inspector." Turning to Jayne, he gestured with his gun towards the door. "Now get!" 

"But my stuff," Jayne protested. 

"Will help me pay the fine you've caused. Now get before I have to pay for a funeral too." With that threat, Jayne finally stumbled off the boat. 

Holstering his gun, Mal turned to Nicos. "Sorry about that sir, but had to make an example. The rest will think twice before they try something like this. I don't suppose you really have to report this," Mal asked. 

"Regulations are law Captain. We'll need to conduct a more thorough search of your ship and," 

"Look, Inspector, I wasn't making no profit off of this. How 'bout you boys just take this crate and this ill-gotten money, and we call it even? No sense in making your day harder. Besides, if I was into smuggling, I wouldn't exactly be making runs to Santos to haul trash out to the Rim now would I?" 

Nicos nodded as he reached for the cash. "I suppose. No reason you'd risk running into a patrol from Zephyr to here either." 

Mal smiled. "Exactly. I shoulda thrown that ape off my boat a while ago, but he was cheap. Anything else ya need from us today?" 

"No, I think that about covers it. Have a nice stay on Santos," the dock inspector said. "You two, get that crate. We've got other ships to check." 

\-- 

Mal sighed as he shut the cargo doors. For once everything had gone smooth. "OWW!" he yelped as he jumped away from Zoe. "What the hell was that for?" 

"Wash told me what you said," she said deadpanned. 

"Well I don't know what he was referring to, but I was playing a character too," Mal defended himself. 

"Yeah, but you didn't have to enjoy it so much," Kaylee called out with a pout. 

Mal's eyes got wide. "You think I enjoyed handing money off to that purple bellied accountant? And booze?" 

"You was mean to Jayne," Kaylee continued. 

"And very derogatory to my wife," Book added. 

"I was playing a part!" 

Sug added her own good natured-slug to Zoe's abuse. "Can't help it if we all thought it was such a good fit," she joked. 

Mal rubbed his arm painfully as he sought to put distance between himself and his crew. "Look, just tell me when Jayne shows up with Monty. And Zoe?" 

"Yes sir?" Zoe answered from where she was trying to deal with her husband. 

"Change out of that dress. It's a tad unsettling." 

"Come on honey, you heard the man. Let's get you out of it," Wash said as he pushed Zoe forward. 

\-- 

Later that evening Jayne wandered in with Monty and his crew. With the addition of the portly Browncoat's party, the total of those involved came to twenty two. Very small for an invasion force, but hopefully the intel from the underground informant Sal would prove true. If not, this would go down as the most humped mission Mal had ever led. Probably be the last too, Zoe thought. 

She looked around to ensure that all the stragglers from both crews were present. Mal had put off sharing the entire plan with the group until now. Said there was no since in arguing over it for three days anyway. She agreed with him. Give soldiers too long to doubt a plan, they'd start second guessing themselves and the leader. She hoped he'd run it past Sug though. That woman had never been one to follow orders even in the war. 

Once the cargo bay was closed and everyone was as comfy as was possible in the now somewhat tight confines of the cargo bay, Zoe joined Mal in the center where he'd managed to erect a rough sketch of the facilities as well as the airspace around it. Simply by looking at the drawing, on could tell it was a military facility. The "Academy" was located on the minimally terraformed outer satellite of Londinium. A man could breathe the air, but he wouldn't want to for very long. The light side of the moon hovered at a temperature around minus two degrees Celsius. Fortunately, there would be no need for the attackers to be outside unless something went really wrong. 

There were only two docks directly connected to the facility which presented some problems. The Expeditor would carry a minimal complement and seek to cause mischief in the air while the two shuttles would dock and disgorge the attack forces. It would be a cramped ride from Santos to their target, but much more so on the return trip. The plan at this point was that the Expeditor would dock after the first shuttle left the area to pick up the remaining fighters, whether that would happen or not was anyone's guess. 

Zoe stopped her mental check of the plan when she heard Mal finish up his brief introduction of the mission and how they would get there. She glanced around nervously; this would be the sticking point she thought to herself. He'd told her the teams he'd picked and she knew of very few people in the audience who would be happy with his choices. 

"Okay then, that's the basics people," Mal declared. "Now, I've got the assignments determined already and I want you all to know that they are not open for debate, dong ma? These groups are based on the intelligence and what has to be done; the pieces can't be mixed and matched." 

Zoe saw Sug's eyebrows rise at his statement. She knew the female mercenary would have a hard time accepting that. The woman hadn't done well for the one battle she'd been under Mal's command during the war. Hopefully she would accept it now. 

"Okay then, first things first. Jon, Ping, you'll stay on Serenity with Kaylee and Shepherd Book just in case something happens that they need a few guns." 

"Captain, I really..." Book began to say. 

"Bi zui preacher. This ain't open for discussion. I know you want to help, but we won't have the luxury of aiming at kneecaps once we're in the thick of it. Every man you spare out of mercy is another one we have to worry about shooting us in the back or calling for reinforcements," Mal answered coldly. "'Sides, you're a fair hand at piloting and reading star charts. Wash has already set the course in for our final contact point, but it's possible that you all may need to be fluid in how you get there. That happens, I'm counting on you to keep my ship safe. I'll be mighty upset if there are in dings in her when I get back." 

"Now, since the Expeditor will be in the air most of the time, it will only have one defender. Rusk, you get to ride the roller coaster with Wash. I assure you from experience, it won't be a dull one," Mal explained. 

"Now then, the shuttles will be crowded for certain during the arrival, so everyone remember to be courteous. Tempers flare, the defenders of each shuttle have my permission to airlock the offending party into vacuum," Mal said with a hint of a smile. "Zoe will be piloting our shuttle while Monty will pilot his. Two people will stay behind to defend each shuttle. Nole, Howie, you two will watch my shuttle while Tommy and Katia will babysit Monty's." 

"Okay, we'll have four teams. Three of those will be responsible for the individual wings of the facility while the fourth will concentrate on fouling up the computer systems. Cecil of course will be in charge of that with me and Zoe providing cover," Mal detailed as he gestured towards the large hacker. 

"That ain't what we discussed Reynolds," Sug protested as she rose to stand beside her brother. 

"Well, things changed Sug. Can't be helped. You knew nothing was set in stone when we talked earlier." 

"Well things are changing again. I wouldn't trust you to protect my puppy, let alone my brother!" 

Cecil put a hand on Sug's shoulder. "It'll be fine sis, he got through Hera I'm sure he can get through a computer room without getting killed." 

"Stay out of this C," Sug ordered as she shook off his hand. 

"Gorrammit Sug. I'm pleased as hell to have your help, but I ain't gonna stand for you questioning my orders. Now Cecil will be with me and Zoe, you don't like it then I will throw you in a hidey hole for the duration. Dong ma?" Mal asked. 

Sug just smirked at him. "You don't have the balls Reynolds." 

"He don't necessarily need them Sug. I'll make sure you sit out all by myself if you can't go along with the plan," Zoe interjected firmly with calm assurance. 

"I still don't like it," Sug protested. 

"You don't have to, you just have to follow the plan Sug," Zoe replied. Sug shot a final glare at Mal before taking her seat again. Hopefully they'd heard the last from her about it. 

Mal gave the entire room a firm gaze. "I remind ya all: this is my boat, my command." When everyone remained silent except for some nervous shuffling on the part of Sug's crew, he continued. "Now then, Simon will be going in as well to provide medical attention to any of the kids that needs it. Each team will be equipped with a medpack containing mild tranquilizers should any of them be too upset. You'll also get a sedative in case they're too uncooperative, but I'd recommend against using it unless absolutely necessary. Any as are unconscious are just dead weight back to the ships." 

"Sug, you and Jayne will be with Simon. Try to make sure he gets through with his head and fingers, doc's not much good without 'em. Monty, you're leading Cahit and Yangfan. Finally, Rahman, Mason, and Yaeger will make up the last team," Mal listed. 

"Now people, the plan is to get in, get the kids, and get out as quick as possible. You see someone fully dressed that ain't with our team, take them out quickly. Don't bother with restraining or incapacitating, just take them out. We can't risk anything else. Cecil will do what he can to muck up their communications and deal with the locks. Radio if you need reinforcements or help. Speed is crucial cause Wash can only distract any air support they have for so long," Mal explained. "Any questions?" 

Mal nodded finally. "Good, we leave in five hours. Everyone get to your rides in the mean time." 

* * *

Chapter 10: Action  
Chinese Glossary  
Jiuming-help  
Mashang-immediately  
Da ge - big brother 

During the approach on the Academy complex, Simon attempted to keep his nerves under control. The feel of the pistol in his hand combined with the weight of the ammunition and two grenades on his belt only reinforced his nausea. Simon felt like his world had ground to a halt since Mal had announced the time of their departure. 

Despite evidence to the contrary, he could not convince himself that the outcome of this maneuver would aid his sister at all. And what if he were injured, or worse? What would happen to her then? What chance would she have of reclaiming any fragment of her former self if he was not there to remind and treat her? 

A nagging voice in his head (which sounded suspiciously like Jayne) kept asking him what Mal and his friends would gain out of this attack. Could the entire strategy simply be an elaborate plot to restage their war? Every minute since Sal's intelligence had catapulted them onto this path, Simon felt like he had been manipulated and bullied into agreeing to a single course of action. Alternatives dismissed and arguments ignored, he found himself beginning to doubt the objective on the eve of its completion. 

The knowledge that he was expected to stand by and watch a massacre only increased his agitation as he waited for the coming battle. Granted, he would gladly kill the men who had condemned River to her fate, but Simon doubted that the lackeys present at the Academy were the ones in control. His oath as a doctor went against withholding treatment even from an individual like Jayne. And now he was expected to stand by while strangers doing their jobs were slaughtered. 

Simon took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He missed his sister. Even in her current condition, she had a way of seeing past the emotions and the people to the truth of a situation. He was sure that she'd reassure him by telling him that Mal's intent was honorable and the tactics necessary. But right now all he could remember were the first words she spoke about the man: "Mal, bad. In the Latin." 

Simon forced himself onto another train of thought by going over their plans in his head. Sal had supplied the force with the command codes used by transports to deliver food and other essential items. Thankfully, the next delivery time occurred shortly after the withdrawal of personnel that they were using for their insertion. Sal's group had planned to delay the delivery transport while the crew of Serenity and their allies took advantage of the situation. 

The plan involved the two shuttles landing at the docks. These would be secured and held by the forces on each shuttle before the four ground teams moved further into the facility. For those in the ship with Simon, Mal's team would move towards the control rooms while Sug's advanced to the C wing. By the time they arrived at the first checkpoint door, hopefully Cecil would have control of the security systems. If not, well the alternatives didn't bear thinking about. 

"Look alive people. Show's about to start," Mal called from his seat beside Zoe. Simon took another deep breath and prayed that he wouldn't throw up. 

\-- 

Wash watched his radar carefully as he monitored the docking of the two shuttles. The Expeditor hovered just outside of the airspace of the Academy while waiting for any sign that a "distraction" was needed. Beside him, Rusk, nervously tapped his fingers on the inactive pilot controls in front of him. One of Sug's mercenaries, the lean black soldier was clearly uncomfortable having such a stationary role in the attack. 

Wash's eyes lit up when the radar indicated an object lifting off from the nearby hangar. Hopefully Rusk had a strong stomach because the ride wouldn't be stationary for long. Apparently their friends were attracting a tad bit of attention. 

"Attend this hundan," Wash growled as he powered up the engines while turning the targeting controls of the ship's weapons over to Rusk. 

\-- 

Monty gave the sealed door in front of him a frustrated kick. Apparently Sug's wunderkind brother hadn't managed to deactivate the security. No, check that. Definitely hadn't, Monty thought as alarms started to go off around his team. 

Monty cursed the designer of the facility as he hastily ducked behind the piece of junk metal he had brought in anticipation of just such an event. Apparently some guards had not left on the transport, he observed as his ears began to ring from the sonic blasts delivered against the rusted barrier. 

"Hurry it up Reynolds, or I'll be in line for a piece of your ass myself," Monty mumbled as he rose to take a shot. 

\-- 

"Cecil, I thought you said this wouldn't take long," Mal yelled with frustration as he ducked back into the control room. 

Zoe raised a hand with and indicated the number five. "How many on your side sir?" 

Mal gave a cocky smile. "I'm more popular Zoe. Eight want to dance with me." 

"Got it! The doors should open," Cecil called out as he continued to type furiously. The large man was all but oblivious to the Zoe and Mal's continual firing. Focused on his task, he hoped he could stay ahead of the computer sentinel before it shut down power to the entire complex. 

Mal thumbed the button on his squawkbox. "Okay people, Cecil got your invites issued. Play nice!" 

\-- 

Sug threw a grenade behind them as Jayne hurriedly opened the door. Simon found himself pushed through only seconds before Jayne hurriedly slammed the door shut. 

"Be nice if we could relock it," Jayne told Sug. 

"That's not necessary. I brought a toy that should take care of any overly persistent admirers," she replied as she hurried to set an explosive device on the door. 

"Umm..aren't we supposed to return through it?" Simon asked concerned. 

"Don't worry doc, I promise there will be a nice large hole here even if someone follows us," Sug told him. 

"And your brother and the others follow us?" Simon worried. 

"Don't be such a nag doc. Reynolds is smart enough to check for booby traps. Now move," she answered as she pushed him forward. 

\-- 

"Oh dear god," Rusk screamed as he attempted to stay upright in his seat. 

Wash only smiled as he dodged another missile. Would have been nice to be prepared for heat-seekers, but at least this way it was challenging he thought. "Yes my man, I am a god. Thank you for noticing," Wash said enthusiastically as he suddenly jerked the spacecraft into a hard right bank. 

"Ha, got you ya sly bastard. Thought you could hide from me, did you?" Wash asked as he locked onto one of the drones buzzing around the complex. "Whenever you're ready Rusk." 

His drafted copilot nodded, but immediately regretted it as his nausea returned when Wash suddenly dropped the ship several hundred feet. Swallowing hard, Rusk fired the ship's guns and destroyed the target. "Got anymore? This is getting fun." 

\-- 

"K, I'm downloading now. Got the systems obeying my every command," Cecil informed them. 

"That's good cause our admirers are getting a tad impatient," Mal deadpanned. "Don't suppose you could lock their friends in their rooms?" 

"Do you think any of them are still there sir?" Zoe asked as she threw a grenade down her hallway. 

"Hey, you're the one always telling me to be more optimistic!" 

\-- 

Simon ducked against the wall as he sheltered the few children they'd gathered so far. Sug and Jayne had made short work of the few guards they'd encountered. The battle had been a true slaughter as all of the Alliance soldiers in the facility only possessed sonic weapons. 

"That was the last of 'em. Jayne takes point and Simon, better ride tight herd on your goslings there," Sug ordered. 

The small group hurriedly rounded the corner to a new hallway and began to check the cells for other children. Each room was roughly the size of a small closet containing nothing beyond a small, waterless toilet and a rubber mattress that was shorter than most ten year olds. Simon found himself losing any sympathy for the dead in their wake every time he entered one of the rooms to coax a terrified or comatose child into the hallway. 

Sug was clearly impatient with their progress, but Simon refused to let her rush him. It was imperative to attempt to minimize the trauma to the children. Not that this battle probably even registered on the scale of trauma they'd already undergone. 

Simon looked up from the teen he was attempting to help when he heard Jayne give an agonized yell. 

"Doc, we need you out here," Sug called as she pushed several kids into the room he was in. 

Simon emerged and followed her around the corner into the midst of a frightening display. A sandy blonde man roughly his height stood in the center of the hallway surrounded by bodies. The man was dressed in the flimsy shifts shared by the other "students" indicating that he too was a resident of the facility. Some of the bodies at his feet were adorned in medical scrubs in addition to the now familiar uniform of the Alliance guards. Simon was puzzled as to the rank or status of the men wearing suits. They wore gloves, but had not other accouterments indicating that they served in a medical role. 

Simon barely registered the blood on the faces of all the bodies as he knelt beside Jayne searching for a wound. He could find none, but the merc was in obvious pain from something. Jayne kept whimpering while he scratched and slapped at his head. An aneurysm? The man hadn't had a head injury in quite some time, but Simon supposed it was possible. 

Simon looked up when he heard Sug curse. Down the hallway behind the motionless man, two gloved men in suits rounded the corner holding some kind of rod like device. The individual in the middle of the hallway met his gaze suddenly and smiled as if he saw what Simon saw. At the same time, the suits gave a cry of pain as they dropped the rods. They struggled to remain on their feet and move forward, but the student in the hallway turned to face them and held out a hand. 

Jayne's face relaxed a little and he attracted Simon's attention with a whisper. "Make 'im stop...hurts so bad." 

Simon looked back down the hallway in time to see the suits fall to the ground with blood leaking from every facial orifice. "Wuh de tyen!" Simon cursed as realization dawned. 

\-- 

Sug nervously watched as the doctor attempted to help the mercenary. She started to go forward to help the kid in the middle of the hallway when the suits appeared at the other end, but several small and surprisingly strong hands held her back. "Now listen here brats, we're never gonna get out of here if you keep me from doing my job." 

She was unnerved a bit more when they simply held onto her gun hand tighter while remaining silent. 

\-- 

"Sug, where's the tranquilizer?" Simon yelled. 

"I dunno it's your gorram job. I'm a little occupied at the moment." 

Simon hurriedly grabbed the pack that Jayne had been wearing before looking up to see Sug's situation. He didn't understand why Jayne was the only one being affected and was worried that he or Sug could soon find themselves in the same position. 

Simon gasped in pain as Jayne's hand grabbed his arm in a crushing grip. "Tell 'im we worked it out...I was stupid, didn't mean nuthin'," the incapacitated man forced out in a strangled whisper. 

Suddenly Sug was beside him. "What's going on?" she asked. 

Simon looked her in the eyes. "He's doing this and I don't think Jayne will survive if we don't stop him," he told her. 

Sug stared at him for a few seconds before nodding. "Well why didn't you say so," she stated before grabbing the smoother gun from where he'd dropped it. She only advanced a few feet past Jayne before grabbing her head and dropping on top of one of the other bodies on the floor. 

"Tzao-gao," Simon thought as he grabbed his squawk box. "Mal, really could use some jiuming mashang!" 

\-- 

Mal cursed as heard Simon's message over his earpiece. "Told you so sir," Zoe bragged. 

Cecil looked up from his work puzzled. "Told him what?" 

"Nothing," Mal answered as he attempted to take out one of the last of the feds currently attacking them. 

"Captain's sore that he lost the bet," Zoe explained. "Told him that the combo of Jayne and your sister was just asking for trouble." 

"Simon, what's your position?" Mal asked as he finally took down the last hold out with a well placed head shot. 

Mal grimaced as he heard fire come through over the connection with the doctor. <Not sure exactly. Couple turns after the door into C wing> Simon answered. 

"Well, guess I'll take their route and see what I stumble upon," Mal said. "Zoe, stay here and cover Cecil." 

<Oh, and Mal...Sug placed an explosive on the door after we came through it> Simon added. 

"Gorramit. Have I mentioned lately how much that woman rubs me the wrong way?" Mal asked. "Monty, you didn't lay any traps for your reinforcements did ya?" 

<No, we're almost done though. We can go to their position.> Monty answered. 

"Negative, get those kids back to the shuttle. No need to drag them through the entire place," Mal ordered. "Big damn hero coming to your rescue Simon. You've really gotta stop making a habit of this." 

\-- 

Mal grumbled as he walked through the bloody corridors. It appeared that their side was winning so far, partially due to the lack of any weapons on the side of the Alliance personnel beyond sonic devices. The operators of the facility had depended on secrecy and had not expected any type of attack even on this small scale. 

Mal stopped suddenly when a small figure appeared before him in the corridor. He quickly pulled his shot up, firing into the ceiling, when he recognized Sue from his dream. The little blonde figure smiled shyly at him, her arms crossed over her blue frock. 

Shit, now he needed to get her to safety, but he still wasn't sure how pressed Simon was. From the way he talked, both Jayne and Sug were out of the action. 

"It's okay, I'm safe with you. And I can take you the quickest way to River's da ge," Sue told him. 

Mal sighed. He didn't like it, but time was short. "Okay hon, but once we get close you do exactly what I tell you. Dong ma?" 

Sue shrugged. "Hurry, Danny's getting bored." 

Before he had a chance to reply, Sue was running down the hall in front of him, leaping playfully over fallen soldiers whenever she encountered them. "Okay, new ship rule. No kids allowed," Mal told himself. Better let Wash and Zoe know as soon as he got back to the ship. 

Mal was surprised at how fast the little blonde could run. He was out of breath by the time she stopped and paused to catch his breath before giving her any instructions. 

"Danny won't listen to me Captain. Fell over the ledge into the blue beyond. You have to stop him or we'll all bleed blue and the story won't end, dong ma?" she asked, echoing his earlier command. 

Mal shook his head, but she interrupted him before he could answer. "I can give you only one shot, and then he'll notice you. Make it count sergeant." Quickly she hugged him before scampering around the corner. 

"Wait," Mal gasped as he reached to stop her but she'd already gotten ahead of him again. He glanced around the corner to look for him and spotted Simon surrounded by a group of children. He was taking cover behind a broken cell door while trading shots with a few feds beyond him. 

Closer to Mal and behind Simon, he saw Jayne and Sug lying prone on the ground amidst a number of bloodied bodies. Some of the bodies were adorned in the uniforms of the Alliance while others wore scrubs or suits. In the middle stood a man clothed in a hospital gown whose profile was disturbingly familiar. 

Jayne and Sug moved suddenly, writhing in pain. Mal comforted himself with the knowledge that they at least were still alive. He scanned the hall in front of him for any trace of Sue... the child could get hurt, but at the same time Mal didn't understand why none of the soldiers had shot the kid standing in the middle of the hall. The entire situation didn't make sense. 

Mal was about to ask Simon how many were attacking him when he saw Sue appear in front of the motionless teen in the hall. The boy didn't even acknowledge her presence as he continued to stare at Jayne's prone, twitching form on the ground with a sadistic smile on his face. 

Sue looked straight at Mal while she pointed towards the man in front of her. "Danny," she mouthed at him. "Stop the blue." 

Mal's eyes darted from her to Sug and Jayne's forms before resting on the bodies of the dead suits closest to him. Understanding began to dawn as he saw that the men had not died from any discernible bullet wounds or injuries. 

Swallowing as he prayed for forgiveness from a god he didn't believe in, he aimed his pistol at the head of the young man in the hall. He pulled the trigger. His confusion returned as he watched blood spray on Sug and the walls around the boy without touching Sue's form. She gave him a small smile before disappearing entirely. 

Mal stood frozen in disbelief at what he had seen. Sounds of gunfire pierced the air and woke him from his trance. He hurried to Simon's side after checking on Sug and Jayne briefly. "Monty, Zoe, hell anyone! We're gonna need some transport help down here. Jayne and Sug are a tad heavy!" 

<On our way, first shuttle is loaded anyway,> Monty answered. 

Mal continued firing as he tried to block the image of what had occurred from his mind. And tried not to feel too nervous about the children surrounding him. 

* * *

Chapter 11: Safety  
Chinese Glossary  
Fei hua - crap talk 

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they dropped the unconscious bodies gently onto the deck of the Expeditor. The other two shuttles had left safely under the fighter craft's watchful protection. The lack of additional targets had caused the boarding of the last party to be a bit more eventful. "Zoe, Monty, go see if Wash needs help getting this boat in the air," Mal ordered. 

Cecil was already attending to his sister while Simon worked over Jayne's body. The kids stood eerily still wherever they'd stopped. Zoe and Monty had to push most of them through the facility's corridors during their hasty retreat. Hopefully all were accounted for because Mal had no intention of returning to look for secret passages. 

"Any clues as to what in the hell happened back there?" Mal asked Simon quietly. Simon glanced up from his work briefly, shaking his head. "What about them? What's wrong with them?" Cecil looked up as he started to register the conversation around him. 

"I won't know for sure until I can get them to the infirmary. Whatever it is, it's unlike what happened to the other men," Simon explained. "No evidence of aneurysm or hemorrhage in either. I'm starting to think he was just hurting them." 

Cecil's face wrinkled in a puzzled expression. "But why would he want to hurt 'em? He wouldn't know them from Adam." 

Mal was equally puzzled as he stared at the unconscious forms. He looked up when Simon spoke again. "Jayne went first. Sug went down only after she went forward to stop him." 

Mal's eyes widened as he considered the implications. 

\-- 

In the cockpit, Zoe relieved Rusk of his position of co-pilot. "Having fun sweet cakes?" 

Wash shot her a saucy grin. "Think we can get Mal to buy one of these babies?" he asked. 

\-- 

After landing on the asteroid that had been designated for the final rendezvous, Jayne and Sug were still unconscious. Simon refused to allow anyone else in the infirmary beyond the other crews' medics. As a result, Mal and Cecil were reduced to waiting outside and gazing through the windows. Everyone else was busy with getting the new arrivals settled in. 

Eventually, Book felt able to leave the children in Kaylee's gentle hands and the mercenaries in Zoe's. He found both Cecil and Malcolm where they had been left. Neither man appeared to have moved or to have eyes for anything beyond the infirmary. 

"They're all resting and accounted for Captain," Book informed them as he handed each man a cup of tea. 

"How many?" Mal asked. 

"Twenty-six total," Book informed him. 

Mal looked toward Cecil. "That all of 'em?" 

Cecil nodded. "Except for that one." 

Mal's face clouded over at that statement. Book was still unclear as to what had occurred inside of the facility as the only people to witness it had been Simon, Sug, Jayne, and the captain. 

Simon and the other medics exited the infirmary. "Sug is coming around, Cecil. You can go in and visit for a few minutes, but she needs rest." The larger man immediately slid past the doctor to see to his sister. Simon addressed his next statement to Mal. "They'll both be fine. Neither appears to have suffered any lasting damage." 

Mal nodded and relaxed a little at the news. "Now if you'll excuse me, it appears I have quite a queue awaiting my services," Simon told them with a wry smile. 

"Go on doc. Don't wanna hear the fuss that'll occur if you examine them after the tranqs wear off," Mal ordered with a wave. 

The Captain finally sat down on one of the couches. Book debated whether to leave or not, but finally decided he probably wouldn't have the opportunity presented by their current privacy again. "Do you want to talk about it son?" 

Mal sighed as he put his face in his hands. "Don't really want to think on it preacher, let alone talk about it." 

Book sat down opposite the captain and waited patiently. After an event such as this, he'd found that wants and needs rarely agreed. 

"He was just a kid, probably the same age as Kaylee," Mal finally added. "Ain't killed a man that young since the war and even then I never shot 'em in the back." 

Book struggled to keep his surprise off of his face. He was well aware of Mal's code of ethics, antiquated though it may be. To commit an act such as that, even when forced, it would weigh heavily on the younger man. "From what I've been told, it would seem you didn't have a choice." 

"Dunno rightly what I did have. Whole mess ...," Mal shook his head, obviously at a loss for words. 

"Captain, the words may seem trite, but you know as well as I do how easily a man can be pushed into a madness from which there is no return. Even if you could have disabled the boy in some other way, there would be no assurances of the safety of anyone else on this ship if he was beyond reason." 

Mal nodded as he stood. "Someone a lot younger told me that earlier today already. Don't change anything though." 

Book watched as Malcolm turned and left the room. The man continued to hold surprises. During the planning, the Captain had no qualms with giving the order for cold-blooded killing. Malcolm had a unique ability for evaluating dangerous situations and making the hard choices instantaneously. The fact that this decision struck at his core so deeply renewed the Shepherd's hope for his soul. 

Book looked up as Cecil exited the infirmary. The Shepherd gave the boy a genuine smile. Time to see to the loose ends that the others had yet to consider, he thought. 

\-- 

Several hours later, Mal found Cecil in the Expeditor where the hacker was working on the files extracted from the Academy's computers. He was glad to see the hacker was alone as well; seemed that he'd spent all afternoon reassuring every gorram member of his crew that he was fine. Mal half expected for Wash to inform him that River and Inara were on the cortex to check up on him. 

"How's Sug?" 

Cecil looked up. "Says she hates having a headache that bad when she hasn't drained a still recently." 

"Warn me if she has any plans along those lines in the near future. I want to be in another sector first!" 

Cecil laughed at Mal's statement. "Yeah, I heard an interesting story along those lines once." 

Mal glared at him. "Do me a favor and don't share it with no-one." Cecil smirked before going back to his work. "Can you find me a specific kid in all that yet?" 

Cecil looked up. "Yeah, extracted their files for the doc first off. Need a description though...that boy?" 

Mal shook his head. "No, girl. Around nine or so I'd guess, blonde. Didn't see her in the hold with the rest." 

Cecil raised his eyebrows in surprise. "And if you didn't see her how would you know about her?" he asked as he began to scroll on the computer screen in front of him. 

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." 

"Dunno, Sug already told me some passing strange things." 

Mal just remained silent as he waited. "Well, none of the ones we picked up were around that age, but here's a list of the girls that were placed in the Academy at younger than thirteen," Cecil told him as he turned the computer screen towards Mal. 

Mal leaned forward and began to page through the profiles. Each file displayed a portrait photograph of the children next to another picture that resembled a mug shot. Shocked, he stopped when he found Sue's file. Her portrait showed her in a powder blue dress while in her mug shot she was wearing the same white hospital gown similar to the other children they had rescued. He didn't bother to read the file as he pointed to it. "This is her." 

Cecil moved to examine the file. "Well you must have gotten hit on the head Reynolds, cause there's no way you saw that angel." 

Mal pushed the computer away. "I know what I saw, now where is she? Another facility?" 

Cecil leaned over and brought up another file. Pointing to it, he asked, "Look familiar?" 

Mal glanced at it before taking a closer look. It showed a portrait of a young boy similar to Sue's age while the other photo was of the kid he'd shot. The boy had Sue's hair color and smile, but little else appeared the same. The mug shot showed an older boy with sandy blonde hair and no smile whatsoever. Looking close though, Mal realized that they were the same individual. 

"Yeah," he replied thickly. "Doesn't have anything to do with the girl though." 

Cecil shook his head. "They're twins Captain. Or were. The records show that the girl died two weeks after entering the program." 

Mal sat down before he fell. Couldn't be. She had been there. Touched him. Warned him. And he'd failed her too. 

\-- 

Wash looked up when he heard Zoe start to descend the stairs. About time. He'd gone looking for her earlier only to find that she'd passed her duties off to Book so that she could go look after Mal. As usual, he grumbled to himself. 

"Finally, alone time," Wash told her as hugged her from behind. 

Zoe shrugged him off gently. "Not now Wash." 

In his mind, he was yelling at her about not being able to relax if her gorram Captain was tense. In reality, he sucked it up and made ready to give his best impression of an understanding husband. During their marriage, he'd quickly learned that fighting with Zoe in the days following a stressful job was never a good idea. "What's wrong lambie-toes? Everyone's safe, no one's shot up too bad, and we're alone in our bunk." 

Zoe joined him on the bed and cuddled into his side. Ahh, yes, understanding husband was definitely the right hand to play. 

"He won't talk to me about it. The shepherd told me a little of what happened and I went to find him, but he won't open up." 

Wash hugged her and rested his head on hers. "Give him time Zoe. He'll bounce back." 

"Feels different this time Wash." 

"It'll be fine. Once we get Inara and River back on the ship, his normally chipper disposition will return." 

Wash looked down at his wife, fully intending to do something to restore his own chipper disposition. The soft snore escaping from her lips ruined his carefully crafted plans though. 

\-- 

Jayne awoke to a feeling of dj vu. Mal was standing in the corner, staring at him all suspecting like. His head still hurt and to tell the truth, he wasn't altogether sure what Mal was judging him for. Ain't done nuttin' troublesome...Ta ma duh! River. 

"Simon said you'll be fine. Probably have a headache for a while, Sug certainly still has one," Mal informed him. 

Sug? Oh, yeah the dwarf Amazon, Sug. So no airlock in the future hopefully. Jayne just nodded carefully. Talking seemed like it would take too much effort right now. 

"Wanna tell me how things got humped?" Mal asked. 

Jayne gritted his teeth before the words 'Not particularly,' could escape. Mal didn't exactly look like he was going nowhere till he got an answer though. Jayne searched for a recollection of what happened. He remembered the doc griping about Sug's party favors and Sug griping about the doc's slow pace with the kids. Everything else was black with pain though. 

Wait a second. The kids. There was this one creepy little fellow. Jayne licked his lips. "Well, came on this one kid surrounded by bloody bodies. Started to think how he was a bit smarter than the rest when I heard this voice, but it weren't the doc's or Sug's. Looked back to see if one of the little one's was raising a ruckus and I saw..." 

"And saw what Jayne?" Mal prompted when the mercenary paused. 

Jayne grimaced. Mal was gonna think he was losing it. "Well, saw the kid, the one standing in front of us, saw him standing over River. Was back in the hospital in Ariel. Told me she'd be punished for leaving, but not before I was dealt with for risking her. That she was more than I was and I'd learn what I'd missed before." 

None of it made any damn sense to him. 'Course he could be remembering it wrong too, it had been a tad hard to follow the kid's fei hua when his brain felt like it was being cooked inside his head. Looked like some of it made sense to Mal; Cap'n didn't look like it comforted him any though. 

Mal just nodded and stayed quiet for a bit longer like he was talking to someone in his head. Jayne suppressed a self-congratulatory smile. He knew going to get all them loonies would be a bad idea. Looked like they were all rubbing off on the Cap'n already. 

"Well, it all worked out smooth enough I suppose," Mal finally told him. "Get some rest, there's work to be done later on." 

Jayne snorted. Smooth for Mal anyway. He weren't the one that had his brains mashed by an eerie ass kid. 

* * *

Epilogue: Consolation Amid the Black 

It had been several days since the return of Inara and River. Serenity had quickly made it's way back to the Rim in search of work away from the Alliance radar. Surprisingly, the destruction of the secret Academy had actually made the cortex as well as details about the missing children. No rewards were offered for the return of the children, instead several were simply declared as dead. Others were purported to have been stolen by the government and angry parents appeared to tell of their years of worry. Apparently Sal's underground had been as busy planning during the past weeks as the crew of Serenity had been. Unfortunately, all of this news was accompanied by a fresh warrant for the Tams. Some things just didn't change. 

Zoe and Inara were still pestering him about what had happened at the facility, but they were slowly starting to mind their own after being on the receiving end of his temper a few times. No use in crying over spilt milk and he weren't going to be badgered into doing so. And well, Zoe had stopped speaking to him since their last conversation. She didn't take well to being ordered not to consider having kids. Didn't like being at odds with her, but at least it had gotten her off his back. 

Mal cursed to himself when he heard footsteps on the stairs to the bridge. "Gorramit woman, I said I didn't want to discuss it," he yelled as he turned to face her. "Oh sorry River," he apologized upon seeing the teen. 

"Milk spilled, no need to throw the bottle," she told him. 

Mal blinked at her. "Uh-huh. Well you should be asleep 'fore your brother comes looking for you." 

River smiled at him. "He's with Kaylee. Looking for something with her right now." 

"K, more than I needed to know. Need something?" 

River skipped forward to look out at the stars. He turned back to the black as well when she didn't say anything for several minutes. 

"Danny always was too bossy you know," River suddenly told him. "Wouldn't let her go when she finished the story, didn't like the change in my plot." 

Mal stared at her trying to understand her meaning. River sighed, apparently vexed with his confusion. She sat down across from him, frowning with her arms crossed. 

"Don't know how that relates to anything River. Hell, don't even know how I saw her when she was dead," he told her. 

River shook her head. "Danny didn't let her go. Kept her. I was supposed to replace her, but their experiment failed. Couldn't see she stayed. But he wouldn't let go of me either." 

"Doesn't exactly make me feel better to know I killed both of them." 

"You saved her silly." River smiled suddenly, "She was the only one that would listen to Simon's story. Between the tests, we'd play when my head didn't hurt." 

River stood and kissed his head before he could pull back. "You were her knight, sent her off to the night's journey finally. You didn't kill her Captain, you just let her go." 

With those words of consolation, River left him alone. Mal sighed and stood. Time he stopped staring into space feeling sorry for himself anyway, he supposed. His crew was safe and they were out of the core. Not much more he could ask for he supposed. 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title:   **Those Left Behind**   
Author:   **Jebbypal**   
Details:   **Standalone**  |  **PG-13**  |  **gen**  |  **173k**  |  **07/02/04**   
Characters:  Malcolm, River   
Summary:  River's experiences at the Academy come back to haunt the crew of Serenity.   
  



End file.
